I Don't Ask Questions
by fearlessgoddess2
Summary: A Supernatural/Fearless crossover. You don't need to have read Fearless to understand the story OR appreciate Gaia. Reviews are like chocolate!
1. Chapter 1

**A Supernatural/Fearless crossover. Though I'm sure it would be more interesting to be able to look back on Gaia's past and look at her now, etcetera, you don't have to know Fearless to understand the story, and you definitely don't to appreciate Gaia. Takes place during Sam's time at Stanford, since I recently remembered that Gaia went there too. It's pre-Jess obviously.**

**Reviews are like chocolate!**

**I Don't Ask Questions**

Chapter 1:

Sam didn't really like to go out.

Sam liked to study. He liked to hang out on his own, maybe with a few friends, though he didn't really drink. He liked to read, soak up the world. He liked to go to the occasional museum, or movie, or something like that. Bars had always been more Dean's thing, ever since he'd been old enough to pass for 21. Sam would go out to blow off some steam every once in a while, just not often. But when Sam's roommate said that it was Friday night and he _had_ to come out with them, he relented.

Though it then took another ten minutes to convince him to continue getting ready after Colin let the words, "Valentine's Day" slip through his clumsy mouth.

He'd had some fun. Now it was getting boring. Not to mention that Sam had an online exam the next day. There were four other guys at the table, and the conversation had turned to women and sex, which, even not counting the fact that he didn't have much experience in that department, kind of exasperated him.

Then Colin had to go open his big mouth.

"Okay, okay, Harvey, fine, you're right. Sam," he said, turning to him. "Pick a girl here and go talk to her."

Sam looked up. Obviously he'd missed the past few minutes of conversation because Colin seemed very intent on Sam talking to someone. And after living with the guy for the past six months, he was sure from the look on his face that Colin wasn't going to give up. So, with a sigh, Sam looked around the bar.

There was no shortage of cute girls. The thing was that most of them were with friends. He didn't want to have to deal with that. Girls tended to either gang up on a guy that approached, if it was a girls night out, or give each other looks that said, 'Oh isn't he cute!' in a slightly condescending way. He didn't want to pick someone that the guys wouldn't approve of though, because that would defeat the purpose. And he also didn't want to pick someone that wanted to get into an intense conversation about shoes. Or an intense conversation about anything. He had to get to bed at least before two or he'd be dead tomorrow and it was already one.

Sam's eyes rested on a girl sitting at a table, nursing a coke. His eyes narrowed curiously at the blonde. He'd always found blondes more attractive, as opposed to his brother, who wasn't as picky. This girl was pretty in that 'I don't care how I look, which is awesome because I'm naturally attractive' kind of way. He admired things like that about her. Like the fact that 99% of the girls in this place spent an hour picking out an outfit, jewelry, a hairstyle, and makeup to come slut it up down at the closest club. The closest thing that could ever come close to this girl's mind to all of _that _is whether lip gloss is too much for her black dress shirt, black pants, flat black shoes outfit for her best friend's funeral.

"Her," he said, just loud enough to be heard.

"Oh man, come on, you sure?" Colin started.

Sam didn't pay attention. He was already up and out of his seat, beer in hand, walking over to the girl by the time Colin was halfway through his sentence. "This seat taken?" he asked, hand resting on the chair.

The girl looked up to him, blinked once, and shrugged. "Free country," she replied, taking a sip of her soda.

Sam sat down, taking a sip of his drink as well. "I'm Sam," he said with a slight smile. "Sam Winchester."

She flinched at the name Sam, looking up and giving him a good once over, like she was expecting someone else, before her eyes drifted back to her soda. "Winchester. Like the rifle?"

"Yea. That one never gets old." He paused, but she didn't say anything. "And you are?"

The girl sighed and glanced to him. "Honestly? Not interested," she told him, leaning forward, slowly turning the glass in her hands as she stared at it.

Unconsciously, Sam let out a sigh of relief, visibly relaxing. "Thank God," he murmured.

The girl looked up to him, surprise, confusion, and a little anger in her expression. "I'm sorry?" she asked.

Sam smiled and let out a small laugh, shaking his head. "My friends wanted me to talk to a girl, probably with the hopes of getting me laid. I wasn't in the mood. It had nothing to do with you."

"Huh," she grunted. She took another drink of her coke. "Gaia."

Sam blinked. "What?"

"My name. It's Gaia. Gaia Moore."

Sam smiled again. "Gaia. Like the goddess?"

Gaia's eyes widened slightly. "I'm impressed," she said. "That's a step up from calling me gay-uh, that's for sure."

"Oh wow. You seriously get that?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yea. Happened more often than you'd think."

"That sucks. It's such a pretty name. Greek goddess of the Earth. Pretty big with Wiccans these days. I mean oaths sworn in Gaia's name were considered the most solemn—." Sam stopped, trying to stop a blush from rising up his neck as he realized that Gaia was staring at him intently. "I'm going to stop babbling."

Gaia smiled. Sam smiled in return, just automatically. She had a beautiful smile, and he realized that it was the first time she'd smiled since he'd sat down. "No, it's, ah…it's refreshing to talk to someone who probably wouldn't think that 500,000 is the same as five million."

Sam snorted. "Probably? Thanks."

"No problem," she replied, her smile growing dry as she took another drink of her soda. They were silent for a few seconds. "Hey, I got a question for you."

"Go ahead," he said.

Gaia looked up to him. "You play chess?"

Sam blinked. "Ah…yea. Haven't played in forever, but yea."

"You any good?"

"I was. Like I said, I haven't played. Why? You play?"

"Yea. And I'm in the mood for a game. Not a Pogo game, a real, live, pieces and a board in front of you game."

Sam shrugged. "Sure. Now?"

"Yea. I live over at Branner. I've got a board. Not marble or frosted glass, but it'll do."

"That works. I could definitely get out of here."

Gaia nodded. "Cool." She looked to the four guys that Sam had left behind who were talking to each other, tossing occasional glance to the two of them. "Tell you what. You go over there, tell them you're outta here with me, and ten bucks says at least one of your friends tells you that you shouldn't leave with me."

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Why d'you say that?"

"Hey, if I tell you, the odds tip," she said, leaning back in her chair with a wry smile.

Sam stared at her, slightly confused, slightly interested. "Alright." He stood up with her and she grabbed her jacket and walked toward the door as Sam went over to the guys, taking a five out of his pocket and putting it on the table to help with the check with a bang of his fist. "It's been fun. I'm leaving with her. We're going back to her place," Sam said with a pasted accomplishing grin.

"With her?" Colin asked, widening his eyes.

"Oh man, you don't want to do that," Bryon told him. "She's bad news."

Sam's grin almost slipped to a grimace. _Damn. There goes my lunch money for the rest of the week._ "Why the hell not?" he asked.

"That girl will chew you up and spit you out," Colin said firmly, punctuating his words with a finger to Sam's chest.

"She seemed nice," Sam said with a shrug. "Besides, you're the one who wanted me to talk to her. And seeing as five guys came here tonight, and one is leaving, and that one is me, you guys should work on catching up, eh?" With a final glare of defiance, ignoring the protests behind him, Sam turned and went outside, catching sight of Gaia waiting on the sidewalk. He sighed, taking out his wallet and removing a ten, handing it over to her.

With a triumphant smile, she took it from his hand, tucking it into her pocket. "Thank you," she quipped, turning and starting the walk back to her dorm.

"Should I even ask?" Sam asked, following her.

"How's that any fun?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Eh, well. I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."

"Good," Gaia replied.

"So who taught you chess?"

"My dad. We used to play all the time."

Sam looked to her. "Used to?"

Gaia's eyes glanced to Sam for a moment before she continued to look straight ahead. "Your dad teach you?"

Sam pursed his lips at the blatant change of subject. "Nah. Mostly played with friends and online. He wasn't that type."

Gaia grunted. "So…. Familiar with the details of Greek mythology. How's that work?"

"Kind of an interest of mine," Sam replied. "Myths. Legends."

"That so?" Gaia murmured. "That your major?"

"Nah. I'm pre-law."

"Oh. I'm criminology," she replied.

"Really? That's interesting. What do you hope to do with that?"

"Not really sure. Something useful."

"What do you enjoy aside from criminology?" Sam asked.

Gaia pursed her lips. "Not much that'll be conducive to a career. Chess. Climbing trees. I can eat a dozen Krispy Kremes in half an hour without puking."

Sam laughed. "Don't know how that could be useful unless you make your living in eating competitions," he replied. "But impressive nonetheless."

Gaia nodded. They walked in silence until they arrived at her dorm, going up the stairs to her room. Gaia closed and locked the door behind them, shucking off her jacket and tossing it onto her single, extra-long, college mattress.

"Single room. That's gotta be nice," Sam replied.

"Yea. That way I only have people I want in here," she told him.

"I'm flattered," Sam said. His eyes scanned the room. A few posters of bands, each unheard-of by Sam, stuck up with sticky tack. Bookshelves filled with books, and then her closet (hey, it was open) with two jackets and other stuff.

Desk was organized, which said something in itself. Her whole room was average. Not organized to the point of anal, but it was nice. What Sam drew from that was that Gaia valued control. Analyzing people, to whatever degree of accuracy, came in handy and kept Sam busy during long bus rides and endless lectures.

His eye caught on a sweat-shirt that hung on the inner doorknob to the room. Narrowing his eyes as Gaia walked around her tiny dorm, fixing things up, Sam went over and picked it up. "You lived in the City?" Sam asked.

Gaia looked to what he was looking at and half-smiled, putting the garbage she'd collected into the garbage can, and walked over. "Well, it is a 'I heart New York' sweatshirt."

"Uh _huh_. Except…well there is the slight difference between what you described and this sweatshirt."

"What's that?" Gaia asked.

"The heart has a big black **X** painted over it."

Gaia looked down to the sweatshirt and nodded. "That it does."

"Was the X painted by you?"

"Yes."

Sam nodded once. "Ah." He knew the end of a conversation when he'd arrived. He put the sweatshirt down, rubbing his hands together. "Where's the board?" he asked, tossing Gaia a grin.

"One sec." She went into the closet, taking out the board, and put it on the floor, opening it. All the original pieces. Plastic, but heavy enough not to float away. Gaia slowly separated the pieces into two piles, then was glad when Sam picked one brown and one white, then held them out to her.

Gaia tapped a large fist. He handed her white.

He knew how to set up the board the correct way. He knew that the white square went in the bottom right hand corner. He knew how to set up the pieces. They sat on the floor, legs folded in front of them, staring at the board.

Gaia moved e4.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

As Sam was dragged out for drinks a few nights later, Sunday night since it was a three-day weekend, he was still rolling his first night with Gaia over and over around in his mind. They'd talked. _Both _carefully steering the conversation away from family. Sam had played chess against her and lost. That wasn't what bothered him. What bothered him was during the progression of the game, she tended to anticipate better than anyone he'd ever played.

So when he got a call from Gaia that she was two bars down, and needed help, he took off.

When Gaia slipped clumsily out of her seat of the bar, ready to call it an early night putting on her jacket with mild dizziness, she knew something was very wrong. It couldn't have been her drink. She'd watched as the barkeeper picked up the glass, filled it with soda, and handed it to her, and it hadn't been out of her sight since.

So why was her head spinning?

Okay. Walking, or rather, slowly shuffling, down the sidewalk on a Sunday night was not the brightest idea. But she was _careful _damnit! She never let anyone near her drink, and never drank it if it had been out of her sight. But this….

Okay, she needed to concentrate on her well-being now. She'd backtrack later.

Gaia turned the corner of the bar, going into the small alley that usually housed garbage containers and bags. She'd call her RA, explain the situation as best she could before she passed out. She took out her phone. Pressed and held the # key.

"_Please speak the name."_

"Pam," Gaia murmured.

"_Calling…_Sam."

Gaia's eyes narrowed. "No…stupid phone…Pam," she breathed. "I said Pam not Sam. I said _Pam_!"

"…Gaia, is that you?"

"Wrong…number," she breathed. "Sorry."

"Gaia, where are you?"

Gaia opened her eyes to shift up, down, left, right. "Alley beside Crazy Lizarrrrrrrd," she slurred. "Need help…. Call Pam."

"Gaia, stay on the line, I'm on my way."

Gaia tried to object to that, but her mouth wasn't working well. This wasn't his job. To come pick up some girl who'd stupidly gotten herself slipped one somehow…. Hm….The cup. The pill must have already been in the cup when he made the drink. She gets the drink. It dissolves within a few seconds. Which means that someone targeted her, paid off the barkeep, knew what she liked, and had to have done their research.

And with those smart, well strung together words, the world started spinning faster, and Gaia's sitting position abruptly turned into a lying down position.

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"Gaia!" Sam yelled. He ran down the street, bumping into drunks and sobers alike, as he searched for her. Getting no response, he hung up, waited a few seconds, and then pressed DIAL again twice. He had reached the area she had vaguely specified, so he listened carefully to hear the Marilyn Manson ringtone.

Hey, it had come up in conversation.

Sam strained his ears, but heard nothing. He walked further down the street, and then caught sight of an alley. Going toward it, he pressed END and then DIAL again twice. He held it to his ear, carefully listening to the tiniest beep from a ring tone.

"BBBB-BBBB-BBBB-BBBBBBBBBBBB," echoed the guitar softly.

Sam followed the ringtone over to where Gaia was unconscious. "Gaia!" he cried. He shoved his cell back in his pocket, forcing himself to calm down. He put two fingers to her pulse. It was beating…perfectly. He put a hand on her head. No fever. Her chest rose and fell; no reaction to anything she'd been drinking.

"Okay. Let's go get you checked out," Sam said, hoisting Gaia up in his arms.

"Hmm?" she murmured.

"I'll get you to a hospital," he told her.

She took a few deep breaths, to clear her mind, enough to tell him, "Sam…you bring me to a hospital…you're a dead man." Sam raised his eyebrow. "My dorm," she whispered. And she fell unconscious in his arms.

"A death threat and now I have to carry dead weight up two staircases," Sam muttered, shifting her so her chin was nestled in his collarbone and shoulder. "That makes my night."

Sam walked to Branner, up to the front door, and, as discretely as he could, got the keys from Gaia's pocket. He opened the door, hoisting Gaia inside, and letting it close and lock automatically behind him. He picked her up once again, going up two flights of stairs and down a hall until he arrived at her room. He put in another key, which fit, and turned. He pushed the door wide open with his foot, carrying her in and laying her carefully on her bed.

"Who are you?"

Sam turned around to the voice in the doorway. He gave her the patented 'Don't you want to pinch my cheeks and make me cookies' smile. "Hi. I'm Sam. Gaia called me by accident. I think she meant to call Pam. Is that your RA?"

"Yea."

"Can you go get her?"

The girl nodded and darted down the hallway. Sam once again checked her pulse, the rising and falling of her stomach, and retinal reaction to light. By the way she'd acted two nights ago, she had seemed like a girl who was fully aware of knowing how to take care of herself. Apparently, she'd messed up. Sam couldn't hold it against her though. He'd messed up plenty of times for worse things.

"What's going on?" asked a worried junior from his left.

"I'm Sam. I got a fuzzy call from her saying that she was in an alley outside the Lazy Lizard," Sam told her. "I went and found her barely lucid. She said she'd meant to call you and wanted me to, but I came and got her and she told me she didn't want to go to the hospital, she wanted to come back here."

The RA's face grew firm. "Do you know what she was on?"

Sam's eyes widened angrily. "What? No! Gaia is not doing drugs! She barely drinks alcohol at all! Something must have been slipped into her drink."

"Okay, just calm down Sam, okay?" the RA asked firmly. "Did she say anything else?"

Sam looked to Gaia, then to them. "She said…I mean she looks fine physically—."

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but I was raised by a Marine so I do know a few things. Breathing is regular. Pulse is normal. Retinal reaction to light is appropriate. For all intents and purposes, her body is sleeping. Does anyone here know if she's diabetic?"

The girls looked at each other blankly. "I'll go find out," the RA said before bolting from the room.

"You do that," he murmured.

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Twenty minutes later, once they'd determined that Gaia was not diabetic, and she temporarily regained somewhat groggy consciousness, she said that she did not want to go to the hospital for personal reasons. Sam said he'd be the judge of what severe symptoms were. She said if she were to experience any severe symptoms, then and only then could they call 911.

Otherwise, it was one AM and Gaia wanted to go to sleep. Which was convenient, because she was already in bed with her shoes and jacket off. Sam helped her under the covers and turned off her bedside table lamp before going outside to talk to the RA.

"Hey. Pamela Anderson. Call me Pam," she said, holding out her hand.

"Sam. Winchester. Listen, I haven't known her long, but from what I do know, Gaia's a pretty cautious, smart girl. For her to get drugged like that is a big deal. I'll talk to her about how it could have happened when she wakes up. But it's late, you should get some sleep. I'll watch out for her."

The RA eyed him anxiously. "Guys really aren't allowed in the dorms after midnight."

Sam closed his eyes in exasperation before opening them and releasing his puppy eyes. "Please? She's…. We really connected. I consider her a good friend. I just want to be there when she wakes up so she knows she's safe."

Pam hesitated, then nodded, taking out her cell. "Put your number into my cell and I'll put mine into yours. Call me if anything happens."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Gaia rolled over in her bed, her eyes opening slowly, and then narrowing. She saw Sam sitting at her desk chair with his head on her desk, dozing away. She winced. He was going to have a heck of a sore neck for the rest of that day.

Gaia sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her neck, and did a mental check over herself. She was still in the clothes she'd worn the previous day, sans shoes and jacket, tucked under her covers. She wasn't injured in any way. Seems Sam had taken good care of her. She ran her hands through her hair at a meek attempt to tame it before standing up and prodding Sam in the shoulder.

"Hey big guy," she said. "Wakie wakie."

Sam opened his eyes, waking and gaining an awareness of his surroundings fairly quickly. He sat up and blinked at Gaia, cringing and bringing his hand to his neck, massaging it. "Hey. How you feeling?"

"Eh, peachy," she replied with a shrug. "Thanks for the help last night."

Sam blinked. "You're welcome. Ah, do you know what happened?"

"I managed to put it together," she replied as she slipped on her sneakers. "I watched the bartender make my drink and I didn't let it out of my sight after that. Ergo, the pill must have already been in the cup and dissolved before I got it. Ergo, it must have been the bartender." Gaia stood, taking her jacket, and putting it on. "Want to help me kick his ass?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh slightly. "I'm sorry?"

"What, you've never kicked someone's ass before?"

Sam blinked a few times. He had plenty of experience with that, as well as plenty of experience getting his ass kicked by others, but that wasn't the point. "Why? We need to inform the police."

"Who will do what?"

"Get him fired for one. He won't ever get the chance to do this to a girl again. Even if he doesn't admit to anything, he's going to get fired."

"Alright. So we'll go to the police after we kick his ass." Gaia checked her pockets for her wallet, cell phone, and took her keys from her desk, putting them in a pocket as well. "You coming or what?" she asked, taking out her cell phone and scrolling through the numbers.

Sam sighed. "Sure. Why not? Can we at least tell your RA that you're alright?"

"That's who I'm calling," Gaia said, waving her cell slightly. She pressed Dial once she'd reached the number she was looking for and waited as it rang. "Hey, Pam, it's Gaia…. Yea, I'm alright…. Sam took good care of me." Gaia looked over to Sam and winked as they walked out of the room, closing and locking the door behind them. "Yea, we're going to head to the police, explain what happened. I'll catch you up later…. I'm fine…. I promise…. Okay, talk to you later. Bye."

Gaia hung up the phone and stuck it back in her pocket as she walked down the hall. "So, you carried me up two flights of stairs last night unconscious," Gaia stated. She looked up to him. "That must have been fun."

Sam smiled dryly. "It's okay. I stay in shape," he said as he walked down the stairs. "Wasn't that hard." He narrowed his eyes. "Isn't the bar going to be closed? It's like eleven in the morning."

"Yea. We aren't going to the bar," she told him. "We're going to admissions to find out where he lives and then we're going _there_."

"What makes you think that admissions is going to give you his address?" Sam asked as they opened the front door to go outside. "Or even that they know who he is?"

"I've got a friend in the office who knows some people. If I explain what happened—." Gaia stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the man sitting at the picnic table in the courtyard. He stared back at her with what Sam could only describe as a deadly intensity, and stood up, walking over. Sam examined Gaia's face. There was no fear. Only anger and a bit of curiosity. She was looking the strange man over like she was trying to decide who he was.

The man stopped a few feet in front of her. "Gaia," he said quietly with a nod.

"Sam, go back inside," Gaia said in a low voice.

Sam looked to the man, then back to Gaia. "Like hell. Who is this guy?"

"He's my uncle," she said blandly. Sam blinked, looking to the man.

"Nicely done," the man replied. "No thought that it could be your father."

Sam stared at the man. It could have been her father? Supernatural possibilities flew through his mind. Possession? Shapeshifting?

"The shoes gave you away," Gaia replied in an even voice. "My father may look like you but he'd never wear that kind of crap."

Sam blinked. Twins. Identical twins. Too many years of finding supernatural causes had him jumping to the wrong conclusion.

A shadow of a smile appeared on the man's face. "Haven't changed, have we?"

"_We?_ There is no _we_. What the hell are you doing here, Oliver?"

"Came to check up on you," he murmured. "Time has made you careless. You never would have let what happened last night happen to you back in New York."

Sam stared at the man in shock. _He _was the one who drugged Gaia? "You son of a bitch," Sam breathed, his muscles slowly getting taut. "You—."

"Sam, I swear to God, if you say another word, I will break your nose," Gaia snapped, glaring at him angrily. "Back off. This is my fight."

Sam stared at her for a few seconds, and then nodded, looking back to Oliver.

"You came to check up on me," Gaia echoed, looking back to her uncle as well. "I should have known it was you. Prison didn't suit you? You get off on good behavior?"

"Something like that," he replied. He looked to Sam. "Making friends, are we?"

"He's not my friend," Gaia told him.

"Really? You called him last night and he came running."

Sam's eyes narrowed further. How did he know that?

"Yea," Gaia replied. "Meant to call my RA. Cell phones aren't perfect. He's got a hero complex, so he helped." Sam raised an eyebrow. She took two more steps toward her uncle. "You have ten seconds to tell me why you're here. And you should probably make it a reason that will keep me from calling the Agency. Though I really don't think you could give me one."

"You have a thing for boys named Sam, do you Gaia?" Oliver asked, cocking his head the slightest bit. "I haven't seen Sam Moon in a while. How's he doing by the way?"

Gaia's eyes flared angrily. "Five seconds."

Oliver stared at her for two of his remaining five seconds. "Be more careful from now on. Your life is never going to be safe. And you shouldn't let your guard—."

"You're out of time. Now are you leaving or do I have to kick your ass to the curb?"

Oliver let out a larger smile. "You really think you could?"

"I did it once, I can do it again."

"You've never overtaken me," he told her.

"You forget about Mary," Gaia told him, her eyes and her voice cold as ice as she stared at him. "I would have killed you without a second thought and you know it."

Oliver's smile faltered just noticeably. "Very true. Thus our predicament. Back then, you would have, but you couldn't. Because you let her get too close. And in the end—."

"Like I said," Gaia snapped, her voice like a sword slicing through the air. "Get the _hell_ out of here. Now. This is _my_ home now. _My_ campus. You are _not_ welcome here."

Oliver nodded once. "All right. Good bye, Gaia."

Gaia watched as he turned and walked through the courtyard, stopping at the street, and a black car pulled up for him. He got in and it drove away. Gaia's eyes trailed after it until it was out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

"You okay?" Sam muttered to Gaia as she brushed past him, fishing out her cell phone.

"Yea, I'm fine," she told him. Sam blinked. He had honestly expected her to be a little messed up. It had been obvious that she didn't want to show any miniscule bit of weakness in front of Oliver, but he was gone now. Oliver was a pretty scary guy, at least to Sam, and he knew scary. She should have been able to show some fear now, right?

Gaia punched a few numbers into her cell and pressed Send, holding it up to her ear as Sam walked by her side back to the building and she unlocked the door. He recognized it as 911. She glanced to Sam as if he was an annoyance that had to be tolerated. "Code 9-2-4-6-7-7. Officer Rodriguez." She paused, walking quickly up the stairs, causing Sam to walk faster, even with his long legs. "Yes, sir, this is Gaia Moore. I need to report a sighting of Loki at the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, California. I was approached and confronted. No altercation occurred…. Sir?" Gaia unlocked and opened the door to her room, walking in and tossing the keys onto her desk.

"Currently in a black Mercedes, license plate 434-FWN." She paused again, switching her cell phone to her other hand as she took her jacket off. "Yea, now that I reported it, can you tell me what the hell is going on?" Gaia asked, polite demeanor locked away for another occasion within a split second. She angrily threw her jacket onto her bed, putting her left hand on her hip as she stared at the wall and listened to the man on the other end."Don't patronize me. Why wasn't I notified…? That's bullshit and you know it! You know that he…." She paused.

"Was my father at least notified…? I don't freaking _care _if he's…_otherwise occupied_," Gaia said, sparing a glance to Sam. "You _find _him and you _tell _him that Oliver has been released. Personally, I'm pissed that I wasn't your first phone call. Oliver's idea of making sure I'm safe at college is having one of his men slip something into my drink and seeing what happens. I've always been a guinea pig to him and—." She stopped, massaging the bridge of her nose, gnashing her teeth together. "I'm _fine_, Rodriguez. I had an acquaintance help me out."

Sam's eyes narrowed slightly. Acquaintance? He didn't even measure up to friend?

Gaia paused and listened for a few moments. "No I don't want a freaking _officer _outside my dorm room. I can take care of myself. You know that as well as I do. I just like to know what I'm up against." Gaia pursed her lips and paused. "Fine. In that case, you can go screw yourself." Gaia punched the end button on the phone before dialing another number and waiting as it rang. "It's me. Call me when you get this. It's urgent." She hung up and tossed it on her bed with mild restraint. "Un-freaking-believable," she muttered.

"Acquaintance?" was the only thing Sam could think of saying with a slow blink.

Gaia glanced to him, as if she were amused that he was offended. "I don't make friends."

Sam stared at her. She was a piece of work; that much was for sure. He'd seen a different side to her the other night. This Gaia was…hard. Cold. Calculating. She had a harsh childhood, brought up with only herself to trust, only herself to turn to in hard positions, lying and subterfuge commonplace in her life. But staring at her, he recognized something else. Something else that he'd seen before when looking in the mirror.

Whatever he said next, it mattered. Decisions had to be made and if he said the wrong thing, Gaia would kick him out, no questions asked. She wanted to protect him. She wanted him to stay out of her life. And he'd been there. Although his life it was because of hunting, and this obviously had to do with the government seeing as she'd called 911 and given a code, it was still something that Sam could understand. So he decided to trust her on this, because the truth was, he didn't have all the information. And people without all the information shouldn't make decisions.

Sam thought for a second before he spoke. "I'm starving," Sam said. "You want to get some pizza?" Gaia blinked slowly at him, as if analyzing his motives. Her jaw moved around slightly as she considered his offer. "I'll tell you what," Sam said. "I'm not going to ask about your past because I don't like talking about mine. If I ask you questions and I expect the truth, then that gives you the right to ask me questions and expect the truth. Which I don't do."

Gaia pursed her lips before nodding once. "Pizza sounds good." She grabbed her keys and locked her door on the way out, letting Sam close it behind himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

A week later, Sam went up the two sets of staircases, arriving at Gaia's room, and once again tried her cell phone number. He'd been calling for the last two days with no response or callback. The phone rang and rang, and Sam could hear the Marilyn Manson ringtone from outside her door, and then it stopped to go to voicemail.

Gaia's recording was bland, deep, and slightly disturbing. "_I need to contemplate life's meaning. Ergo, I need a few days to myself. If my room starts to emit a repulsive scent, it's probably time to call someone._" Beep.

Sam hung up. He'd already left two messages. He banged on Gaia's door several times. "Hey, Gaia, open up. It's Sam." There was no sound from within. Sam took a deep breath and sighed. Well, at least her room wasn't emitting a repulsive scent yet. "Gaia," Sam snapped, giving the door another bang. He waited, but there was no response. Sam pursed his lips. "Gaia, do I have to go get your RA to open the door to make sure you're all right?"

Gaia's voice, startlingly close to the door, spoke up loudly. "Sam, I need some alone time," she spat. "Comprende?"

"Actually I don't speak Spanish," Sam replied. "Come on, please?"

"Bite me," Gaia's muffled voice came back.

"O-_kay_," Sam murmured. He sighed and then held the box of Krispy Kreme donuts up to the peep-hole. "I come bearing gifts."

There was a hesitation, then a sigh, then the door opened. Sam walked inside, handing the box to Gaia. He looked around the dark room, realizing that the darkness made it seem more depressing, and noticed the half-empty container of chocolate Häagen-Dazs on the counter. Gaia's hair was messy and she was wearing grey sweatpants and a large white t-shirt.

"If I didn't know you any better I'd say you just broke up with your boyfriend," Sam said, turning around to look at her.

"Very funny. Thanks for the donuts. You can leave now," Gaia said, putting the box on her desk and taking a donut out, taking a bite.

Sam glared at her. "Hey, from the message on your cell, I was just wondering if I had to go to another funeral. In my opinion, I've gone to my fair share, but who knows? Maybe I'm just getting warmed up," Sam said with a roll of the eyes.

Gaia stared at him, a piece of semi-chewed donut still in her mouth. She swallowed. "You were worried about me?"

Sam sighed. "Gaia, I like to consider the fact that we might be approaching, distantly, something similar to friendship. Even beside that, I tend to worry about people. I'm good at it," he said. "Remember? Hero complex?"

Gaia pursed her lips as Sam flicked on the light. "I told you. I don't do friends." She walked over to her bed, flopping down onto her pillow, staring at the ceiling and taking another bite of her donut. "You wanted in. You're in. Now what?"

"I could go for a game," he said with a shrug.

Gaia glanced over to him. "You really feel like getting your ass kicked again?"

Sam's eyes widened slightly. "Getting my ass kicked?" he asked with a slight laugh. "Really? It was a good game. I thought I did pretty well considering I was playing against Bobby Fischer's long lost daughter."

Gaia's lips twitched slightly as she considered his offer, then she nodded. "Fine."

Sam went over to her closet and took out the board, putting it on the floor as she sat down. They each randomly selected a color and set up the board. "So," Sam said, making the first move. "Can I ask if you're going to do anything about the bartender?"

Gaia made a move. "Already done. I talked to the manager. They're going to fire him."

Sam glanced to her before looking back to the board. "Didn't kick his ass though?"

"He was no doubt threatened by Oliver. I got him fired because he didn't go to the police. I didn't kick his ass because I couldn't really blame him for being scared shitless."

Sam grunted. They made a few more moves and got into a solid middle-game before he spoke up again. "On a more serious note, are you just bragging when you say you could kick his ass?"

Gaia snorted. "No. Why? Your hero complex suffering without a damsel in distress to save?"

"No, I could just use a sparring partner."

Gaia looked up to him, raising an eyebrow. "Really?"

Sam gave her a good-natured smile. "Really. I could use the practice. I go to the dojo every once in a while, but it'd be useful to have someone I could call up and meet at the gym to spar with."

"What have you trained in?" Gaia asked, thoughtfully.

"My dad was a marine and taught me and my brother, so it was basically a mixture of judo, muai thai and Brazilian jujitsu."

Gaia made a thoughtful hming sound, staring at the board before moving a piece. "Okay. Under two conditions."

"What are they?" Sam asked.

"First, you don't go easy on me."

"All right. And the second?"

Gaia looked up to Sam with a devious smile. "You don't cry when you lose."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Gaia smiled, amused, at Sam, who was slouched on the bench outside the girl's locker room, as she stopped in front of him. "Come on, Sasquatch," she said, hoisting him up to his feet.

"Ow," he moaned. "God, didn't you do enough damage for one day?"

Gaia sighed as they walked out the front door of the gym. "Hey, you were really good, and I don't say stuff like that lightly. You landed a few good shots. Besides, you promised you wouldn't cry."

"I'm not crying," Sam told her. "_This_ is not Sam crying. _This _is Sam in pain. I just spent half of the last hour out my back." Gaia snorted and looked up to him with a shaky grin that she tried to keep from turning into full fledged laughter. Sam glanced down to her and did a double-take. "Oh ha ha, very funny."

"Hey, you said it!"

"Okay, let me revise that statement. I just spent the last half hour getting the crap beat out of me."

"By a _girl_?" Gaia asked, the smile still in her voice.

"No! No, not by a girl! By you!"

"Oh, thanks!" Gaia exclaimed.

"You know exactly what I meant," Sam told her. "You are by no means an ordinary girl. I think I liked roofied Gaia better. She was calmer. Less _violent_."

"Uh huh," Gaia sighed. "If you couldn't handle me, you should have just said so." Sam grunted as he collapsed onto the bench by the bus stop and Gaia sat down next to him, stretching slightly. "So we'll stick to chess?"

Sam looked over to Gaia in amazement. "Are you kidding? I was going to ask if you were free again next week, same time, same place."

Gaia slid a glance over to Sam. "You sure you can take it?"

"Hey, a week to recover and I'll be as good as new."

"Nice. I could use a new punching bag," she murmured.

Sam narrowed his eyes and gave her a slap across the shoulder. She gave one back.

"Ow," he grunted.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Pizza? Again?" Sam asked as they walked up the sidewalk to his dorm.

"Hey, I could live on it," Gaia replied. "But if you want to go for something else, it's fine by me."

"I'm just saying that I could go for—." Sam's voice trailed off as he slowed to a stop.

Gaia looked up to him. "What?" she asked. She looked over to where he was looking. "Who's car is that?"

Sam blinked. "My brother's."

"Your…?" Gaia looked up to him, and then back to the car, as the driver's door opened and a young man emerged, closing the door behind himself and walking over. Dean stopped a few feet in front of Sam, silently standing there with his hands in his pockets. He looked to Gaia, then back to Sam. "I'm sorry, I don't get a hello?"

"Dean…what are you doing here?" Sam asked, more surprised than anything else.

"Huh. Haven't seen me in half a year and you ask me what I'm doing here?" Dean asked with a cocky smile.

"I mean, what's wrong?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Something has to be wrong for me to visit my little brother at—?"

"Dean," Sam said firmly.

Dean sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We should sit down." Sam blinked again before he followed Dean into the adjacent courtyard, sitting down with him and Gaia at the picnic table. "We were nearby, so I thought I'd tell you in person. Better than hearing it on the phone."

Sam shifted in his seat. "Tell me what?"

"It's ah…it's Bryce."

Sam stared at his brother. "What happened?" he asked.

"You want the details in front of her?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow at Gaia.

Gaia folded her arms, staring at Dean through narrowed eyes. "I'm pretty sure I can take the blood and gore," she told him.

Dean looked to Sam. "She a hunter?"

Sam's face shifted to uncomfortable. "No."

"She your girlfriend?"

"I'm not boinking your brother," Gaia growled.

Dean looked back to Gaia, his eyes widening. "Didn't say you were," he said slowly. "Sam, why can I tell you this in front of her?"

"I didn't say you could," Sam told him, suddenly frustrated for reasons he couldn't understand.

"Hey, you got to stick around when my uncle made his appearance," Gaia said to Sam, her voice cold. "Not that I wouldn't take that back those ten minutes if I could, but what gives you the right to kick me out of this?"

Sam looked to Gaia, gnashing his teeth together anxiously. "You know what?" He nodded. "Fine." He turned to Dean. "What happened?"

"Dude, seriously—."

"What. Happened."

Dean sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "He went after a wendigo. He didn't make it."

Sam closed his eyes, hanging his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. "When?" he murmured.

"Two days ago. Bryce was working on the case and had said that he might need backup," Dean said quietly. "Bobby went with him. They were attacked and…it was just bad luck. You know, an inch to the right or the left and it would have ended up different. Slashed open his femoral. Bled out within minutes."

Sam looked up to Dean with wide eyes. "Bobby's okay though, right?"

"Bobby's fine," Dean said quickly. "He killed it and.... Look, Bryce is being shipped back to Phoenix so his mother can attend the funeral. It's this weekend if you want to come. I know you've got school, but—."

"I'll be there," Sam interrupted quietly. He folded his arms tightly, leaning forward on the table. "How's Bobby?"

"A couple'a bruises and scratches, but he'll live. Didn't even warrant a trip to the hospital. The campers he saved are good too," Dean said, smiling tightly.

Sam managed a tight smile as well. "Yea," he murmured. He looked up to his brother. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem." Dean stared at Sam for a few more moments. "Look, I know you wanted out of this life, I just—."

"Dean," Sam said. His voice was quiet, but full of intent. "Don't be an ass."

Dean nodded. "Right. I'm gonna go."

"You don't want to stay for dinner or something?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer.

Dean smiled, the humor in his expression because he knew Sam already knew the answer. "Nah. I should get going." He stood up, walking around the table, and clapped his younger brother on the shoulder. "I'll leave you a message with all the info for the funeral. Take care of yourself."

"You too. I'll see you in a few days."

Dean nodded again and turned, walking out of the courtyard. He got into the Impala, starting up the engine, and pulled away.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Sam and Gaia sat at the picnic table for a few moments silently before Gaia slowly stood up.

"Come on, let's head inside," she said quietly. "It's getting cold."

Sam nodded in agreement and followed her inside, up the stairs, and into her room. Gaia closed and locked the door, taking off her jacket and putting it on the back of her desk chair. "Sorry about your friend," she murmured, avoiding his gaze.

"Yea, me too," he replied. Sam turned to her as she sat beside him. "You have any questions?"

"I thought we agreed on no questions?" Gaia asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sam hesitated. "Well yea, but I'm sure you either think I'm insane or…that my brother's insane or…you're trying to convince yourself that a wendigo is a fancy name for a bear."

Gaia smiled slightly. "I know what a wendigo is. I'm not an expert on myths and legends like some other people here, but I do know some stuff." Seeing Sam skillfully avoiding eye contact, she sighed softly. She could tell he really did want to talk about it. He wanted to talk to somebody about it so much it tore him up inside. So, since Gaia was such a warm, loving, _giving_ person, she would let him. "So what kind of comforting crap do you spew at other people on the rare occasion you have to tell them about this?"

Sam sighed. "I explain that people like my brother and father and I hunt things that hurt people. Things that most people think of as nightmares. We go after scary stuff, but we do it under the radar, breaking laws where it's necessary to save lives."

"So it's not just wendigos."

Sam swallowed. "No. It's stuff like vampires and werewolves and spirits."

Gaia pursed her lips. "Well that explains the proficiency with martial arts," she stated.

Sam stared at her. "That's it?" he asked. "You…believe me?"

"Sam, I don't think you're crazy, if that's what you're asking," Gaia told him. "I have seen crazy. First hand, I have seen crazy and that is not what you are."

"Why? I mean that is normally a reaction to something like this. Being told that stuff like this exists when you really want to believe otherwise."

"And why is that, Sam?"

"What?"

"Why do people really want to believe otherwise?"

Sam stared for a few more seconds, as if confused by the question. "Uh…because this stuff is scary and—."

"Exactly. That isn't a problem for me," Gaia said.

"Why?"

"Because…I don't…feel…fear," Gaia said quietly, as if stringing together the words was uncomfortable to her in itself.

Sam's eyes narrowed, then widened. "You what?"

Gaia took a deep breath. "You told me your big secret of why you don't talk about your past. I figured I owe you one, and I don't like being in debt. I'm naturally fearless. I was born without the gene that makes a person feel fear," she said. "I don't know why I'm like this or how. I just know it's caused me nothing but grief my entire life."

Sam looked down to his hands for a few moments, then back to Gaia. "So…nothing. No reaction whatsoever."

"I'm a full-fledged, Jamie Summers, Edward Scissorhands freak," she replied.

Sam narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't remark on the demeaning statement. "So this was from birth?" he asked.

Gaia nodded. "Mm hm."

"And they don't know why?"

"Not a clue. Before my self-preservation instinct kicked in, I was on the trapeze without a net for a while there. Mostly it was my parents catching me until we figured out it was the fear thing. I mean my mother graduated from college in Russia magna cum laude and my father was first in his class graduating from Yale, so it didn't make sense for their only daughter to be a moron. So they did some tests and…found out what was wrong."

"Huh," Sam muttered. "So you must have some pretty good stories."

Gaia narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Some good stories. About when you were younger. I'm sure that not having an emotion that other people can experience was quite the adventure."

Gaia snorted. "I guess so." She looked over to Sam's slumped form and nudged it slightly. "Why?"

Sam stared at his hands clasped together on his lap. "Cause I've got some too. Stories about...Stories about waking up in strange places you don't recognize. Stories about running from something that's a part of you, something that you're never going to get away from, but you run because if you don't then you feel like you're dying. Stories of people betraying you, stabbing you in the back with a knife they've been sharpening for years, stabbing you and twisting that knife so hard, and yanking it out…and leaving you there to bleed to death…." Sam's voice trailed off as he continued to examine his fingernails as if they were the most fascinating thing he'd come upon in college so far.

While Sam just wanted to get that angst furball out of his throat and hoped Gaia wouldn't mock him too much for it, Gaia thought for a few seconds, and then spoke up softly.

"And then there are those people you just have to hold on to. Hold on so tight so they don't go away," Gaia whispered. "As long as you hold onto their hand, their cold hand, and look into their empty eyes that they won't die. That you wouldn't have killed someone else. Not again. Not because of you they died. They died because of someone else. Someone who just hates and hates and doesn't know how to love he's hated for so long. He no longer has normal goals, he just has goals to get him to his next conquest, his next _kill_."

"And they keep killing and you keep fighting. Knowing that life is precious like people don't understand because you've _seen_," Sam whispered. "You've seen the wreckage left behind when a demon possesses a man who leaves his family. They're terrified for him and don't know where he is or if he's safe or even alive, and he finally wakes up in a hospital a year later and one more demon has destroyed dozens of lives. You've taken on responsibilities, had things put on your shoulders that shouldn't have even been spoken of for years, until you were older. Until you gradually lost that innocence that a child is born with. But no, you're shoved into this adult world, protected by no one and thought of as just another soldier, even by your own father, who was too terrified to stop and think that maybe if I put this behind me, moved on, for my kids, my boys, at least, maybe we'll be okay. But no, he threw us off Niagara Falls and just expected us to survive."

"And when one of us wants a normal life, that's asking too much," Sam said quietly, over a lump in his throat. "No, I have to be a perfect little soldier, follow his every order, because he was never my father, he was always my drill sergeant. Make the silver bullets. Follow through with the machete. Don't let my brother beat me at sparring again, not again, so we end up at the hospital. Then it's back to the latest place that's supposed to pass for home. Martial arts, bow hunting, training that Marines get when they're eighteen and I'm barely ten. Lying to teachers, lying to friends, lying to everyone. And for what? We give our whole lives to this…crusade. For what?" Sam asked, looking over to Gaia as he realized tears are streaming down his face. "For a mother in Phoenix to be able to bury her thirty-year-old son."

Gaia realized that tears were streaming down her face too. It was odd, not only because she rarely allowed her the chance to cry, but because she hadn't decided whether or not to cry. Tears had just materialized on her cheeks. And at that, Gaia leaned toward Sam and he took her in a strong embrace as they both let out eighteen years of pent up sorrow, horror, and wishes for a real home, real comfort, and real safety.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

"So a few nights before, I'd seen this movie where this kid climbs a tree," Gaia explained, leaning forward in her desk chair. She took a drink of her soda. "And I thought it'd be really cool. So at recess the next day, there's the playground, the field, and the forest, and I find this tree. Somehow nobody notices that I wandered off."

"Oh God," Sam murmured with a smile. "So you're seven?"

"I'm seven years old," Gaia replied with a nod. "And I must have gotten…at least thirty feet up this pine tree before someone notices. One of my classmates does. And I'm up there having a grand old time, totally oblivious to the fact that I should be terrified, or at least a little scared. Finally enough of the kids are watching that a teacher notices. And she full on _freaks out_. She tells me to stay exactly where I am, because she probably thinks that if I try to climb down I'm going to fall and break my neck and my parents will sue the school or something."

"So the fire department gets there," Gaia continues with a smile.

"Oh my _God_," Sam whispered, shaking his head.

"By this point I've realized something's wrong. I mean I figured out that I'm in trouble. I'm not scared, but I know that I've done something that I shouldn't have. So once they get me down, my parents have arrived, and they talk to the principal for like ten minutes and then bring me home. And on the way home, my father's telling me, 'Gaia, you know you aren't supposed to do dangerous things,' blah, blah, blah. So I feel like a failure as a child because I'm not scared of things I'm supposed to be."

"So my mom goes, 'Well, Tom, it could have been worse.' And my dad goes, 'How?' And I think she's going to say something like, at least I didn't get hurt. And she goes, 'She could have convinced another kid to come up with her.'"

"Oh, very nice," Sam replied with a smile.

"Uh huh. Anyway, that was the day I learned climbing trees came with all sorts of problems attached to it. That's pretty much the worst trouble I've gotten into at school," Gaia said before taking another long drink of her soda. "At least the most…publicized."

"Yea. I think the worst trouble I got into was when I was about six or seven," Sam said. "I had this assignment in class where I was supposed to draw somebody or something from home. You know, the kids around me were drawing…the family dog or…their mom and dad playing Candy Land with them. So what do I decide to draw? I decide to draw my big brother."

"Oh God, what'd you do?" Gaia asked with a tight smile.

"You have to understand that…when my dad left on a hunt and left me and Dean behind, he'd put up wards and put down salt lines to make sure we were safe. But he always left Dean with a shotgun."

Gaia gaped at Sam. "You didn't," she told him.

"Oh, I did. I drew me and my brother in my bedroom at our latest apartment and my brother was holding a shotgun," Sam replied. Gaia let out a small, incredulous laugh. "It was…a pretty good picture, in my opinion. Later when I showed it to Dean, he said that he liked it. Made him look macho, he said. You know, he's like ten, so he understands why I shouldn't have drawn it and tells me so, but he liked it. And I was clueless as to why my teacher didn't think it was good. She was looking at it like I had drawn someone with their head blown off. I mean first she asked me if it was my brother's toy shotgun. When I told her it was real, that was when she got all upset."

"Dean hadn't told me about what our dad did at this point. I found out when I was nine. He basically told me that he kept the shotgun handy because he didn't want any strangers getting in the house. So that's what I told my teacher. And so my dad was called in and he had to make up some big story about how Dean had gotten it from an old grandfather of ours and it was never loaded, it just made him feel better. So my dad told me that I couldn't tell anyone about that stuff, and I never did again, but we moved like two weeks after that anyway."

Gaia grinned. "That's pretty heavy," she admitted. "So, nine, huh? When'd your brother find out?"

Sam sighed. "It was less of him _finding out_ and more like he grew up with it. After my mom died, my brother made it his personal mission to protect me from all things dangerous. I ah…I finally found out one Christmas. My dad was off on a hunt and my brother had gone to the arcade after this fight we had and I'd found my dad's journal, which he wrote down all the things about monsters that he knew, like an encyclopedia of everything he'd learned."

Sam turned the soda bottle slowly in his hands. "When I confronted my brother, the first thing he told me was that our dad was a superhero," Sam said with a reminiscent smile. "He said that we had the coolest dad in the whole world because he was a superhero and he fought monsters. Dean told me that…the monsters had got mom, and so I was scared they could get dad, and if that happened, they could get me and Dean. And Dean promised me that would never happen." Sam shook his head slowly. "He's kept his word so far."

Gaia looked down at her hands. "I've got a brother," she murmured.

Sam looked up to her, surprised. "But you never mentioned—."

"My parents thought he'd died at birth," Gaia explained softly. "But he was taken from them. I only met him about a year ago. It's this whole messy story, but his name is D. and he lives in Oklahoma now with a friend of mine on her family's farm. He's fifteen. He ah…he sees auras."

Sam's eyes narrowed curiously. "That's interesting."

Gaia nodded. "Yea. That's why he lives on the farm. I would have had him live with me in New York City, but…it was too much for him to handle."

"Yea, I'd think so," Sam replied.

Gaia looked down to her soda again before she looked back to Sam. "So what do you tell your friends about me?"

Sam blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean not many people here really like me," she replied. "I tend to stick to myself. Like that first time we met in the bar, they told you that you probably shouldn't hang with me."

"Yea, what's with that anyway?" Sam asked, leaning forward.

"Ah…I kind of threatened this guy that came on a little too strong," she said with a shrug.

"Kind of threatened?"

Gaia sighed, as if exasperated. "I was on my way back from class after dark and this drunk guy with a couple of drunk friends were walking down the street. One of them thought it would be a great idea to put his arm around my shoulder and say all sorts of really not romantic things and…I didn't take nicely to it."

Sam stared at her, a half-smile on his face. "What'd you do?"

Gaia rolled her eyes. "I twisted his arm around and told him that if he touched me again I'd reach down his throat and rip out his kidneys." Sam snorted, pursing his lips to try to hide a smile. "What? I was having a bad day!" Gaia exclaimed.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Sam opened the door to his room to see Gaia standing there with a pizza box with two cans of soda on it. She lifted them a few inches toward him. "I come bearing gifts," she said with a dry smile.

Sam sighed, turning and walking back into the room. "Bless you," he murmured, collapsing back into his desk chair as she closed the door.

"Well you're buried in your books for finals, and barely want to have any fun, much less eat, and I can't very well let you starve. Who would I spar with?" Gaia asked.

"Ha ha. Hey, tell me something," Sam said.

"Ya?"

"Why is studying so tiring, when you're just sitting in one spot for hours on end?" Sam asked, taking a soda from her.

Gaia pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as she sat on his bed, folding her legs, and opened the box of pizza. "One of life's great mysteries. Where's Colin?"

"At the library with a study group," Sam replied. "He won't be back for a few hours."

"Okay. Well, I got a question for you actually," she said.

"Yea, go ahead," he replied, taking a slice of pizza from her.

"Well first of all, I recently learned that Roble Hall is one of, if not the oldest dorm on campus. And that was because some of the girls in the courtyard the other day were talking about it being haunted."

Sam eyes narrowed. "Haunted how?"

"Well apparently a few things. This one girl took a picture of her room after she'd first settled in and there was this shadow of a young boy sitting on her bed she couldn't explain. There was someone who'd gone into the shower and there was nobody else in the bathroom at the time and saw a hand dragged across the shower curtain. A resident had been asleep and a book fell on them from the shelf above them." Sam snorted. "Yea. And ah…another one was someone was taking a shower and saw a face come through the wall and right at them, then disappear."

"Okay," Sam said through a mouthful of pizza. He took a long drink of his soda, his stomach grateful for the food. "Doesn't sound particularly malevolent. So where's the question in all this?"

"That's exactly my point; it didn't sound malevolent. Yet the girls that were talking about this…were discussing it like it was the scariest thing in the world," Gaia told him. "One of them said that her friend was in the bathroom and he got poked hard in the back, turned around, and there was nobody there. And she was totally being all dramatic about it, like a ghost had come at her friend with a steak knife or something. I'm just confused as to why they're so terrified."

"You think because I feel fear I can rationalize it?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's a stretch."

"Just trying to get a picture of something I don't get here," Gaia said with a shrug. "I thought because you've dealt with a lot of people who've experienced this stuff, that you might get it more than I did. It wasn't necessarily because of the fear thing. Er…not _entirely_. But I was just wondering about your thoughts on it."

Sam sighed, settling into his chair a bit more. "Well…human emotions are complex. They're constantly misunderstood, hardly predictable, and always confusing. Especially females. No offense."

Gaia snorted. "None taken. Trust me."

"But what you're talking about here isn't a fear of ghosts," Sam told her.

Gaia blinked. "I'm sorry?"

Sam leaned forward slightly. "These girls, what they're afraid of isn't the ghosts. Not really. If these things had been done by someone human, if someone had walked by this person's shower and dragged their hand along it, or been sitting on the bed when she'd taken a picture, or dropped a book on them while they were sleeping, it wouldn't have been scary. Why not?"

Gaia paused. "Because…they're people," she stated. "That's normal. I mean not dropping a book on someone while they're sleeping, that's not normal, but just doing something physical is normal."

"Exactly," Sam said.

"So they _are _afraid of the ghosts," Gaia contradicted.

Sam shook his head. "No. What they're afraid of is what they don't understand. See, I'm sure you've realized that there are different types of fear. There's being startled, there's being scared _for _someone and there's being scared for _yourself_, there's dread which is fearing something that might happen that you can't prevent, there's panic which is irrational fear triggered mainly by adrenaline, and I can go on. What these girls are feeling is fear of the unknown. It's kind of a mixture of dread and panic."

"When people first discovered germs, how do you think they reacted? They were terrified that there were tiny things that they couldn't see that could get to them and kill them from the inside out. Then eventually they learned more, developed vaccines and antidotes, stuff like that. It doesn't mean that people aren't still scared of germs, but the original fear of the unknown wore off. These girls are still in that first stage. If they do believe in these ghosts, and they weren't just talking about something for the sake of talking about it, then they're scared because of what they don't know. This is something they can't protect themselves from and that strikes at the heart of human fear. You can't protect yourself from something you can't see. From something you can't understand."

Gaia took another bite of her pizza, chewed thoughtfully, and then swallowed. "Huh," she murmured. "I think I actually get it."

"You sound surprised," Sam replied with a smile.

"Eh, you're just a good teacher," Gaia said, returning the smile. "How about you take some time off the studying and we have a game?"

Sam sighed. "Sure, why not?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

The last time Gaia had gotten a call from Sam, it was to tell her that he was taking the weekend to help his brother investigate where their dad had disappeared to. That Sunday night, when Sam had said he was coming back, she'd expected a call. Expected to hear from him, have him tell her that he'd made it back in time for Monday's interview, and not to worry.

When she woke up Monday without a phone call to a newspaper on her apartment doormat that read 'Fire Claims One Life,' and saw Jess's picture, Gaia cursed. She'd slammed her front door, running back to her room, and threw on the first clothes she could find. Turned out that she'd hurried for no reason, because the next few hours she spent trying to find Sam were wasted.

The next time Gaia saw Sam it was three days later at ten in the morning and she had officially reached 'pissed'. She had parked in the motel parking lot a few spots away from the black Impala, walked over to room 12, and knocked loudly. She waited for about five seconds as footsteps sounded, and the door opened, revealing a bedraggled Sam.

Gaia punched him in the nose.

Sam cried out, stumbling back, as Gaia walked inside. Dean had leapt up out of his bed at his brother's cry, wielding a knife, as Gaia slammed the door behind herself, glaring at Sam. "How long were you going to wait?" she asked, arms crossed. Sam rubbed his nose, staring at her blankly. "Oh come on, I didn't hit you that hard," Gaia snapped. "How long were you going to wait before calling me back?"

"Been a little busy," Sam whispered.

"Yea. I heard," Gaia said quietly. "Why didn't you call me?"

Sam glared back at her. "Because I didn't want to talk to anyone."

"Great. That's fine. That's friggin' _peachy_, Sam, but something like this happens and you call me and _tell_ me that you don't want to talk to anyone. Do you even check your voice mail? Nobody has heard from you in _three days_. I wasn't even sure you'd come to the funeral today. I had to call in a _favor_ to track you down. And I don't like doing that. Maybe it's my fault that we're friends, and in that case, I'm sorry. But for all I knew, you'd been so crushed about Jess's death that you drove yourself off a cliff. And maybe it's stupid of me, but for some weird reason I didn't want that to happen."

Dean stared at the girl before him, stunned, as she ranted. He'd lowered the knife as soon as he'd realized she wasn't a threat, but was currently confused. First of all, at the girl's audacity. Second of all, at her attitude. Even _he_ hadn't brought himself to say Jess's name out loud since what had happened.

Gaia stood in place silently for a few seconds, as if waiting for Sam to say something. He swallowed, took a breath, and nodded. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "You're right."

Dean blinked as Gaia's posture slackened the slightest bit. "Wait, she's _right_?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"She's right, Dean, I should have called her, if only to tell her that I was okay," Sam said quietly.

Dean looked from Sam to Gaia and then back again. "You've barely spoken three words to _me_ these past three days, and you're telling me that you regret not having called this girl to tell her you're all right?" Dean asked in disbelief.

"Dean, this is Gaia. She—."

"I know who she is. I met her like…three years ago, but I still recognize her. Hell, she was the only friend of yours I met aside from…." Dean stopped himself.

Gaia had looked to Dean as he was talking, and now looked back to Sam. "I'm sorry, Sam," she whispered. "I know how much you loved her." Sam swallowed, running a hand over his face, and nodded silently. "If you need anything, if you want to see me, you know my number. I don't know what your plans are, but I doubt you're staying here. So do me a favor; call me or text me or something every once in a while so I know you're still breathing."

Sam locked eyes with her and nodded. Gaia gave him a tight smile and turned to leave, opening the door. "Gaia," he said suddenly. She turned back, her hand still on the doorknob. Sam hesitated. "Did you go to Jake's funeral?"

Gaia blinked once, slowly, and paused. "No," she whispered finally. Gaia kept her gaze locked with Sam's for a few more seconds before she turned and left, closing the door behind herself.

Dean stared at the closed door for a moment before he looked to Sam. His eyes followed his younger brother as he walked over to the bathroom, closing the door. Dean narrowed his eyes, pursing his lips. Then he blinked in surprise as he heard, for the first time in three days, the sound of Sam turning on the shower.

Dean tossed the knife onto the bed and walked over to the door that Gaia had just left through, grabbing the key along the way, opening it and shutting it behind himself. Gaia turned at the sound, her keys in her hand.

"Hey," Dean called, walking over to her.

Gaia blinked at him. "And I thought I was the only one with that little modesty," she said, cocking her head slightly.

Dean glanced down to his boxers dismissively and looked back up to Gaia. He stared at her for a few seconds.

"You going to say something, or did you just come out to model your underwear?" Gaia asked.

"How'd you…do that?" Dean asked quietly.

Gaia raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry? Do what?"

"He just went into the bathroom to take a shower for the first time in three days," he told her.

Gaia narrowed her eyes, and then shrugged. "I didn't know he hadn't showered in three days," she replied. "So I didn't know that me coming here would get him to. I was just pissed at him. I left him six messages, all escalating in anger. He's a good friend of mine, and I'd thought that with the relationship we had, he would have come to me if something like this happened. If only to talk. I mean, if only to tell me he was still eating, drinking, breathing, and shitting."

Dean looked away for a moment, then back to Gaia, as if trying to figure something out. Gaia's tight shoulders relaxed a little. "Dean, he's your brother. Just cause you couldn't get him to take a damn shower, doesn't mean you did something wrong." At that, Gaia turned and walked the rest of the distance to her car, getting in and starting it, driving off, Dean staring after her.

A few seconds later, Dean turned and went back into the room, going over to Sam's jacket and digging out his cell phone. He scrolled through until he found Gaia's and programmed it into his own cell.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Gaia tossed her graduation cap and gown onto her bed, sitting down beside it. Well. That had been quite a day. She narrowed her eyes suddenly, realizing that she hadn't received a congratulations call from Sam. Taking her cell out from her pocket, she dialed his number, kicking off her shoes. It rang four times and Gaia thought it was going to go to voicemail before it was finally picked up.

"_Yea?_"

"Sam, I think I just attended the most screwed up of all graduations," she told him. "And I mean, this is pretty bad. There's this kid that I was sort of friends with, who I thought I knew pretty well, turns out not so much."

"_Uh, Gaia?_"

"Just let me tell you this. He brought a bomb to graduation."

Sam was silent, stunned. "_He did _what?" he exclaimed. "_Was-was anyone hurt?_"

"Oh no. Thanks to me. Yours truly grabbed him and propelled the two of us off the roof of the building, grabbing onto a few flagpoles on the way down, and managed to make it to solid ground. Once I was standing on my own two feet, I chucked the bomb as far as I could throw it and it went off a couple hundred feet in the air."

"_Jesus_," Sam breathed.

"Yea. FBI had already been there undercover because they thought he was going to try something. They just weren't sure exactly what that was," Gaia said, walking into her kitchen and looking in her fridge for something of decent nutritional value. After a few seconds, she settled on a beer. "So when he pushed the count-down button on the bomb he had with him, nobody was really sure what to do. I swear; my life is way too interesting." Gaia held the phone with her shoulder for a second as she opened her beer, walking over to her couch and sitting down, propping her legs up on the coffee table. "All right. Go ahead. You try to beat that."

Sam was silent for a few seconds. "I wasn't serious. You could just tell me congratulations on surviving college or even just how you've been," she told him. "I mean nothing too deep, I know you don't really want to go into stuff, but go ahead, try to beat my day."

"_Gaia_," Sam whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear him.

Gaia's arm stopped in mid-air, her beer halfway to her mouth, and she swung her legs down off the table, leaning forward to put the beer down. "Sam?" she asked, her eyes narrowed. "What is it? What's with the tone?"

Sam took in and let out a shaky breath. "_Gaia…my dad died yesterday._"

Gaia's face went slack and her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed hard, looking around the room as if the right thing to say was written somewhere on her walls. Her mouth opened and shut a few times before she let out a disbelieving breath. "I guess you win," she whispered. "My God, Sam, what are you doing letting me rant about my day when you…?"

Sam let out a snort of laughter that sounded forced. "_Uh, I think you're allowed after your graduation nearly blew up._"

Gaia didn't crack a smile. "Jesus Christ, Sam," she muttered. She hesitated. "Depending on how this happened, you're okay? Your brother's okay?"

"_We're fine_," Sam murmured. "_We, ah…. We don't really know…exactly what happened. It's…complicated._"

Gaia nodded to herself. In her experience, when someone said something was complicated, it meant they didn't want to talk about it. She'd learned Sam was no different in that respect. "How's your brother holding up?" she asked, knowing that while Sam's feelings were touchy at this point in the mourning process, he would be worried about his brother.

Sam let out a long breath. "_He isn't really saying much. I mean it only just happened. He's been spending most of his time in bars and stuff. He's probably going to come back a few times beaten to a pulp or I'll get a call that he was taken to a hospital after a bar fight or something._"

"Sounds like my attitude on life," Gaia replied. "Violence can always help a situation. You worried he'll get himself killed?"

"_He did that, I'd kill him,_" Sam whispered. "_Hell, he's all I've got left._"

Gaia closed her eyes, concentrating to keep back tears. She'd been there before, no doubt about it. "Sam…do you want me to…I don't know, do you have somewhere you guys can crash for a while?"

"_We're fine. Thanks_," Sam said quietly. "We've got a, ah…he's kind of an uncle to us. We'll probably go stay with him."

Gaia nodded slowly. "Okay." She paused. "It isn't fair."

"_No. No it isn't._"

"Look, you call if you need anything," Gaia told him. "I mean anything."

"_All right. Thanks, Gaia_."

"Take care of yourself."

"_I will_."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

It was ten in the morning on a Saturday, Gaia had just filled her first cup of coffee, and she was just taking her first sip when she heard the newscast that nearly had her snorting out coffee through her nose.

"_…shortly after, the hostage takers were identified as Sam and Dean Winchester._"

Gaia thanked God that she hadn't already gotten dressed and had instead coughed coffee up on her pajamas as she put her mug on the counter and raised the volume on the television.

"That cannot be right," she muttered under her breath.

"_These two brothers have apparently been under FBI investigation for some time now, having escaped police custody before._"

Gaia's hand rose to her mouth as she saw a clip being aired of Dean at the bank, police lights flashing all around. "Holy crap," she whispered. "Sam, what have you gotten into this time?"

"_In a daring, devious feat of escape mere hours ago, the boys managed to slip out of the bank and get away once again, disguised in S.W.A.T. uniforms, and their whereabouts are currently unknown._" Gaia couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Leave it to them to make asses out of the FBI. "_Dean Winchester is currently wanted for theft, fraud, grave desecration and murder, and was thought for some time to be dead by authorities. If you have seen either of these two fugitives, you are urged to report the sighting to the authorities._"

"_At the end of the long night, the death toll was up to three, including City Bank of Milwaukee employee Geoffrey Sampson, an unidentified blonde, middle-aged, female hostage, and Ronald Reznick, the aforementioned original hostage taker._"

"What the hell?" Gaia muttered. "_Original_ hostage taker?" Shaking her head, Gaia went into her room and dialed a number programmed into her cell, waiting as it rang. "Kim, hey. What have you heard about this Milwaukee hostage situation thing?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam rolled over in his bed as his cell phone rang, moving his hand around blindly toward the incessant noise until he found it. Dean said something mildly vulgar before putting his pillow over his head. Sam grunted his agreement with Dean and answered the phone. "Yea?" he muttered.

"_I have to say, you are, hands down, my most interesting friend._"

Sam sighed. "Gaia."

"_Yea. Gaia. Your friend at the FBI. Didn't think that I warranted a call after your national news debut?_"

Sam rolled over onto his back. "I just spent the better part of yesterday in a hostage crisis with a guy who thought he was hunting a mandroid and a homicidal shapeshifter," Sam murmured, massaging his forehead. "And I've gotten about twenty minutes of sleep within the past twenty-four hours. Can this wait?"

Gaia snorted. "_Ya. I guess so. Just checking up on you._"

"Uh huh."

"_Call me tomorrow, Sam._"

"Uh huh."

"_Bye, Sam._"

"Uh huh." Sam hung up the phone, stared at it for a few seconds, and then called his voice mail, going into Settings. After pressing a few buttons, he spoke. "This is Sam. Please ignore what you saw on the news that prompted this call, at least for the next twelve hours until I've gotten some sleep."


	13. Chapter 13

**Since I went through how devastated Sam was after his father's death, plus the fact that when Dean had died he really wouldn't have wanted to talk to anyone anyway, I passed over Dean's death. So that was about four months ago. Yup, Dean's back. So Sam puts in a call to Gaia.**

Chapter 13:

Gaia put down her book, leaning over to her bedside table to pick up her cell phone and glance at the caller ID. Narrowing her eyes at the unfamiliar number, she answered.

"Yea?"

"_This is a collect call from…_. _Guess who._" Gaia's eyes widened and she blinked. "_Will you accept the charges?_"

"Yes," Gaia said firmly, pushing back her covers and standing up. She waited, pacing, until there was a _click _on the line. "Sam?"

"Hey, Gaia," he murmured.

"Uh, _hey_," she said, putting a hand on her hip. Gaia waited a few seconds. "Sam, I haven't heard from you in like…four months. What's going on?"

"Um. Well, I've been still eating, drinking, breathing and shitting," he said quietly.

"That's good to hear," she replied, leaning against her dresser. "I know you told me…. Sam, I know you said that you were going to try to bring Dean back," Gaia said softly. "I stopped waiting for that call a few months ago though."

"Yea. I stopped waiting for that not long ago too," Sam told her. Gaia pursed her lips, silent. "I guess a watched pot never boils, right?"

Gaia stood up straighter. "Sam…" she whispered.

"We don't know how it happened," he said, his voice void of emotion. "But it's…it's really him." He let out a soft sob. "It's really, him, Gaia."

Gaia stared into space, her eyes wide with shock. "Coming from anyone else…."

"Yea, you'd call a mental ward, I know," Sam muttered. "He's in the motel right now. Sleeping. He went to Bobby's first and then found me." Sam paused. "Gaia…remember when I told you about what happened to me as a baby?"

Gaia walked back to her bed and sat down, pursing her lips. "Yea. What I remember more clearly is you making me promise to kill you if you ever got out of control if Dean couldn't do it," she said quietly.

"I've, ah…I've been training with Ruby."

"You've been what?" Gaia breathed.

"I've been using my abilities," he said, his voice barely audible. "To exorcise demons."

Gaia paused tentatively. "And?"

"What do you mean, and? I've been using my demonic powers," he told her.

"Okay…but you said you're exorcising demons with it. That's got to be easier than chants and…a little more worthwhile than killing the host along with it," she replied, rubbing the back of her neck. "So, I repeat. And?"

Sam swallowed, hesitating. "I told Dean…I told him that I hadn't gotten farther into it. That I hadn't used my abilities since he died."

"Why the Hell did you do that?" Gaia asked.

"Because I was scared," he said, by way of explanation.

Gaia sighed. "Fine. Use that lame-ass excuse; see if I care. And how long exactly do you think it'll be before he finds out?" Sam was silent. "Sam, you can't keep this from him for long. And the longer it goes, the more likely he'll find out from someone else. Why are you scared though? It's not like you're hurting people."

"I'm dancing a thin line, Gaia," Sam whispered. "I don't know how easy it would be for me to slip into something else. Something…."

"Evil. Same old, same old, huh?" Gaia asked quietly. "Look, Sam, I've already given you my opinion on the subject. You're the least likely person I'd pin as one to go dark-side. But your argument was that I don't know about this stuff and I'm not knowledgeable enough to make a judgment as to whether evil could overtake you. Ergo, our agreement to disagree. Not much has changed on that point. But that's not why you called me. You _know _you have to tell Dean. You called me _before_ because you were fishing for someone to tell you it was okay. Right _now_ you're calling me because Dean died, you changed, and now you're scared of what Dean's going to think of you."

Sam was silent. "And?"

"And what? And can you go back to the way things were before? No. Hell no. Sam, you just spent four months without your brother, some of that time having come to the conclusion that he was not coming back. You've changed. And your brother's changed too, I'm assuming. I mean, I don't know what he remembers or what happened to him, but…." Gaia sighed. "You told me he was going to Hell," she whispered. "Is that what happened?"

"Yea," he whispered. "Yea, that's what happened."

Gaia let out a long breath. "I'm not even going to pretend to know what that really means," she said. "I don't know much about this life, aside from what you've told me. But look, the bottom line here is that you've changed. Your brother's changed. But…you're still brothers, Sam."

Sam was silent for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "Yea. Yea, I know." He paused. "How've you been?"

Gaia snorted. "Really, Sam? How've I been? God, compared to you I'm Mary friggin' Poppins."

Sam cracked a smile. "Yea."

Gaia waited for Sam to say something else, but when he didn't, she spoke up again. "Are you happy he's back, Sam?"

"What? Of course I am!" Sam exclaimed.

"No, Sam, don't do that," she told him. "Don't say, 'Of course I am.' I know you love your brother. I know you would have done anything and everything to get him out of Hell including switching places with him. So just put aside the fact that he was in Hell for a second. What I'm asking you is if you…right now…wish that for once something in your life would make sense. If you wished that you could have gotten your brother back sooner or not at all, if you could have gotten him back before you had to radically change your entire life to adapt to the fact that you have no family left, that you were fighting a war all on your own, terrified that you're going to become the very thing you hunt. If you are totally pissed that just when you think you've found the solutions to the problems in your life, just when you've found the answers…someone goes and changes the question."

Sam let out a shuddering breath and Gaia closed her eyes, almost able to feel him crying over the phone. "What am I supposed to do, Gaia?" he breathed. "What am I supposed to do?"

"You do what you've always done," she replied softly. "You be the only guy I know that has a life freakier than mine. You save lives. You help people. And you never stop. That's what you do. And you live your life."

Sam let out another long, hitched breath. "What am I supposed to do when Dean finally finds out about what I've been doing?"

"Sam, when you died, your brother sold his soul to a demon to get you back. I think he'd be a little confused if you didn't try the same, and he'd be confused if you hadn't completely fallen apart during the past four months without him." Gaia sighed. "Look, your brother loves you. He's scared for you. You told me that yourself, that Dean was scared for you and that's why he didn't want you using your psychic thing. He thought that would be the first step toward evil. But when he wasn't there anymore…you had nothing left to lose. So you did something drastic. And I think that's something he can relate to."

There was silence on the other end of the line. "Thanks, Gaia," he finally murmured.

"No problem." She paused. "Go to sleep. And don't let another four months pass by before calling me, okay?"

"Okay," Sam said. "Bye."

"Bye, Sam." Gaia hung up the phone, staring at it, before shaking her head as she put it on her bedside table. "And I used to think my life's screwed up," she muttered. "At least it abides by the laws of physics."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Gaia flipped through the paperwork she had laid out on her kitchen table, muffling a yawn with her fist. She picked up the crime scene photo she'd been looking for and looked it over, checking what she was seeing against the report she had before her. With a sigh, she put it down on the table, briefly closing her eyes and attempting to massage away the headache she was developing.

While the buzzing of her ringtone and her cell phone vibrating would have startled anyone else, Gaia blinked a few times at the vague pain behind her eyes and picked it up. "Yea, Moore."

There was a brief pause. "_Hey. Ah…I don't really know why I'm calling you._"

Gaia blinked. "Who is this?"

"_Sorry. Dean. Winchester._"

"Dean? Are you on a pay phone?"

"_No. Cell. Why?_"

"Hang up. Find a pay phone. Then call me back." At that, Gaia hung up the phone, putting it on the table next to her paperwork. She spent another few minutes thumbing through the reports she had before her cell rang again. "Y-ello," she spoke up.

"_This is a collect call from_…_Any particular reason you wan—. Will you accept the charges?_"

"Yea," Gaia replied. There was a click on the line. "Yea, Dean, there is a particular reason I wanted you to call me from a pay phone," she said, giving the paper in her hand a final look over before she put it down and sat back in her chair. "They're less traceable than cell phones. FBI agents getting calls from known felons isn't really smiled upon. You and Sam might get new cells every few months or so when it gets stepped on by a werewolf or whatever, but I don't love leaving things to chance. Ever since your national television debut, Sam calls me from pay phones and visa versa."

Dean paused for a moment. "_Oh. Ah…fair enough. Didn't think about that before I called you_."

"Why are you calling me anyway?" Gaia asked. "Last time I talked to you was like three years ago when you followed me outside in your boxers. By the way, I find it kind of amusing that I've seen you more naked than I've ever seen your brother and I've known him for five years and I knew you for about five minutes," she murmured thoughtfully.

Dean paused again, in slightly stunned silence. "_Uh huh_."

Gaia stood up, stretching her legs, and walked into her living room, sitting down on her couch and putting her legs up on her coffee table. "So did you plan on talking or did you just like listening to me breathing?"

Dean let out a long breath. "_Look…you knew Sam for over three years at college_," he began.

"Ya. And you knew him for like eighteen before that. What's your point?"

"_You just…. You managed to knock him out of his loop after Jess. It kind of felt like you knew something I didn't_."

Gaia sighed. "Yea, and I told you that you were just being stupid," she told him. "He's your brother. I don't know him any better than you do. I'm not his goddamn therapist; I'm just his friend. I call him for support too sometimes." Dean hesitated. "You know he called me the day you came back?"

There was a surprised pause on the other end of the line momentarily. "_He did_?" Dean murmured.

"Yea. You know how when you're a teenager there are some things you can't talk to your parents about? I think that was kind of like that. I didn't hear from him for those four months you were dead though."

Dean sighed. "_Yea, that doesn't really make me feel any better_."

"And he called me yesterday. After you were a total _dick_," she snapped. Dean was silent. "Yea. That's what I thought. So what the Hell's wrong with you?"

"_What's wrong with _me?" Dean exclaimed.

"Wha…? Yea! What's wrong with _you_?" Gaia asked loudly, standing up, shocked that Dean wasn't expecting the comment. "Listen, me and you both know that Sam isn't Mr. Tough Guy. That's you. He's the one who's open with his feelings, who isn't afraid to cry now and then. But when he cried on my shoulder back in college, it was because he thought he was disappointing his father or…because he was worried that being in California instead of backing you up on a hunt would get you killed. When he was back on the road with you, he called me crying because he missed Jess so much he just wanted to die or…because he had to shoot the girl he'd just slept with in the heart because she was a werewolf and he couldn't save her or…okay, Hell, because his father died. Never once, Dean, never before did he call me because of something _you said_."

Dean swallowed audibly. "_I didn't_…."

"You didn't what? You didn't mean to hurt his feelings?" Gaia asked, narrowing her eyes. "What did you expect him to say? He told me what you said, Dean, word for word. _If I didn't know you…I would want to hunt you…._ Did you really think that was going to go over well? Did you think about what you were saying before it came out of your mouth? He is _terrified_, Dean. _Terrified._ Of him_self_. That's one thing he can't run away from as much as he wants to. Himself. He's stuck. He's stuck with the demon blood in him."

"_If he's so freaking terrified, then how could he use it, huh_?" Dean yelled. "_How could he do that? And not even tell me_?_ He lied right to my face, Gaia, and told me he hadn't used his abilities since I died._"

Gaia paused, pursing her lips. "What did he tell you when you asked him? Why did he say he was working with Ruby?"

Dean sighed loudly into the receiver and Gaia heard him bang his fist against something. "_He wanted to turn it into something good_," he muttered.

"You were _gone_, Dean," she whispered. "He did everything he could to try to save you and everything he could think of to try to get you back, and he couldn't. Let me ask you something: what did _you _do?"

Dean hesitated. "_What_?"

"What did _you _do when _Sam_ was gone? When he was dead and gone and you were staring at his corpse?" she asked. She blinked back the tears that came as memories of Jake and Will lying in front of her dead flashed in her mind. "How rationally were you thinking when you had _no one left_? If you couldn't have brought Sam back, how badly do you think you would have spiraled out of control? So really, I wouldn't pin you as the one to be throwing punches at your brother because he made some desperate decisions."

Gaia heard Dean let out a breath that caught slightly in his throat as a sob. "_I know_," he whispered.

"I'm not blaming you for what you did, Dean. I'm telling you to smack yourself upside the head a few times until you realize that you aren't exactly helping the situation. I mean, shit, telling him he was hunt-worthy?"

"_I didn't mean that he was hunt-worthy_," Dean snapped quietly. "_I just meant that if other hunters found out about him—. I mean you know what happened with Gordon—."_

"Yea, I know. But if something like that is what you say when you _don't _mean to hurt him, I'd hate to hear what you say when you _do _mean to hurt him. And when did your attitude change on whether your brother is a good person or not?"

"_He _is_ a good person_!" Dean exclaimed. "_I'm just_—."

"Scared," Gaia finished. "I know. But you've got to realize that your brother is falling apart here. Without you, he's got no one on his side. Hell, I'm in Virginia. I'm not much help. And if he thinks his own brother isn't holding out hope that he isn't going to go darkside, then what chance can he really think he has?"

Dean swallowed hard again and then let out another long breath. "_You're right_," he whispered, his voice almost inaudible.

"Duh, I'm right," she muttered. "Look, I told Sam that things aren't going to go back to the way they were before, and I'm going to say the same thing to you. Sam's changed. You've changed. You spent four months apart, him knowing you were rotting in Hell and thinking you were gone forever and you…well I don't even think I can give justice to what you went through. But…shit, Dean, you're still brothers. You spent eighteen years together. The way he talks about you…. I've never heard anyone talk about a sibling like that. He _worships _you. For him to know you're worried about his demon blood, that's one thing. For you to be saying the shit you said to him yesterday…that's something entirely different."

Gaia paused for a few seconds, waiting for Dean to respond. "_You know…for someone who isn't a goddamn therapist, you're a pretty good one_."

Gaia snorted. "I'm not a therapist. I just don't mince words. And I offer an outside opinion to your life. That's another reason Sam talks to me. Hell, that's why anyone talks to someone else about crap they have to deal with. It's a lot easier to look at crap and see it for what it is if you aren't in the middle of it."

Dean blew out his cheeks in another sigh. "_You know why I called you_?"

"Ya. I do," Gaia murmured. "And you were being a massive idiot. Did I manage to get through that thick skull of yours?"

Dean let out a small laugh. "_Yea, I think so_."

"Good. I'd hate to waste money on a plane ticket to come out there and kick your ass."

"_Yea, Sam mentioned the slight proficiency with martial arts_," Dean replied.

Gaia snorted. "Slight. Uh huh."

Dean paused. "_Look, Gaia_—."

"Dean, just…talk to your brother, okay?" she asked. "Don't get offended when he doesn't warm up to you right away after what you said…but talk to him."

Dean nodded to himself. "_Alright_," he muttered. "_Ah…thanks_."

"Yea. Feel free to call any time you need a good verbal ass-kicking again," she replied.

Dean smiled slightly. "_Will do_."


	15. Chapter 15

**This is a long chapter, basically because I didn't want to go a whole chapter without putting in Gaia, and also it all flows pretty nicely I think so I didn't want to break it up. I'm going to continue with Kyra after this, but probably only for a chapter or two. :)**

Chapter 15:

"Okay, Sam, so…." Dean said, after a minute or so of silent speeding. He paused, but Sam still didn't speak up. "So we're headed to your coordinates," he added, holding Sam's cell phone set to GPS in his hand in his right hand and driving with his left, racing down the highway. "Can you tell me where we're going now?"

Dean could read the stress lines across Sam's face as his eyes scanned the information he was reading through on his laptop. "Walpurgisnacht," Sam said finally.

"Geshundteit," Dean replied automatically.

Sam ignored the quip as he continued to scroll down the pages of research he'd copied and pasted into Word. "Also known as Hexennacht, or Witches Night, it's a Satanist holiday. Similar to Samhain and an ideal time for demon summoning. From everything we've gotten, that's what it points too. It starts sundown on April 30th and goes to sundown May 1st." His eyes continued to scan the information, taking it all in.

"The holiday starts at sundown?" Dean asked. "When does the ritual take place?"

"_At _sundown."

"At—." Dean's eyebrows rose as he glanced back to his brother for a moment before forcing his eyes back to the road. "Sam, sundown was at least half an hour ago."

Sam let out a sharp breath of acknowledgement. "I know. Drive faster."

Dean pushed his foot harder on the pedal, only slowing when he must, the understanding that the Impala in a ditch would hinder their plans nudging him from the back of his mind.

"Why these coordinates?"

"Process of elimination, mostly because it's the highest altitude that they could be at while still affecting the areas we put down as omens," Sam said. "Goes with the rituals."

"You got any idea what we're walking into aside from what Cas gave us?" Dean asked. "Doesn't usually—." He swore, slamming on the brakes as he skidded slightly, before continuing. "Doesn't usually work out well when we go in stone-cold blind."

"A demonic summoning of some sort," Sam replied slowly, his eyes still locked on the screen. "If we catch the Order sect before they complete the ritual, then we can just eliminate any possibility of them doing it. Destroy their altar or necessary parts for the ritual, whatever."

"And if we don't get there in time?" Dean asked, glancing down to the GPS again.

Sam sighed reluctantly. "We run the risk of interrupting the ceremony _after _the demon has been summoned. If the demon crosses over onto our plane, that's one lock on the door, as you spoke metaphorically before. When we talk repercussions, I couldn't tell you whether this demon will be a black-eyed demon or white-eyed or what. You can take the Colt, I'll take a shotgun with rock salt, and I have several exorcisms memorized. Plus there's one chant in dad's journal that can work with astrological influences, which is what's used for this, the date basically being a schedule of astrology for Earth. It will render the spell they used useless."

"Awesome. But what if everything's all over?" Dean asked. "What if they got through everything they needed to do? If they managed to summon the demon? What could they have done?" Sam paused, continuing to read over information, until Dean spoke up again. "Dude, I can't snap my fingers in your face, I'm driving."

Sam swallowed. "The research I've gotten for _this_ sect of The Order of Phosphorus means they'll try to…_use _the demon while they have control over it for their own means, perform a blood ritual, then banish it again."

"And?"

"They'll probably have a member of the Order participate, one who is fully ordained as a member but probably too young to have wanted to be ordained. Brought in by parents. That's what the FBI's mostly been after them for."

"Okay, dude, you aren't giving me much here. What the Hell are they doing?" Dean asked loudly.

"They'll have the child drink the demon's blood," Sam forced out.

Dean's shocked stare darted from the road over to Sam for a second and then he felt the car swerve. "Shit," he muttered, guiding the car back on track. "Can we reverse it? Reverse any effects? Do an exorcism or something if we get there soon enough? A spell? What?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding frantic.

Sam hesitated. "I don't know," he said quietly.

Dean's jaw clenched as he glanced back to the GPS program, which said they would arrive in eight minutes. "We don't know what we're walking into, so stick close and we'll play it by ear. Just use your best judgment."

Sam nodded. "Yea."

As soon as they got to the top of the mountain they'd been ascending, the road ending in a dirt parking lot with what would probably be a lovely view for tourists during the day, Sam and Dean got out and ran around to the trunk, grabbing what would be useful. Sam noted the smoke rising from a point north of them, most likely the bonfire, and they took off.

Moving quickly but quietly through the forest, they eventually came to a clearing, where both boys momentarily froze in their tracks, less for safety and more from a jolt of astonishment. The bonfire had diminished to the occasional lick of a flame. There were six lanterns spread about to give a tint of light to the area. There was an altar to their left and a brutally slaughtered lamb next to it.

And at least twenty people lay dead around the fire, bleeding from their eyes, noses, ears, and mouths, their expressions one of pure fear.

The wind softly rustling in the trees was the only sound the boys could hear. Sam's eyes only had to scan the area for a moment before they locked on something. Kneeling next to one of the dead cult members, hardly moving an inch and barely noticeable until you looked right at her, was a young girl. Sam stopped and looked to Dean, letting out a low whistle. Dean looked to him, Colt raised, and Sam nodded to his right. The older brother's eyes narrowed slightly and he started toward her.

As Sam slowly, silently, closed the distance between them, he noticed that her hands were shaking in her lap. He tried to take in any other body language signals he could, but it was hard from behind. But then, suddenly, he heard something else. The girl made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob.

Sam stopped and looked to Dean, who had stopped as well, presumably having heard the noise. Sam's eyes slid back to the girl. He considered his options. Then he spoke up softly, "Hey."

Sam could practically feel the objection of his decision to speak from Dean, but really, what else could they do? Shoot her in the back of the head when they weren't even sure if she was possessed? Surprisingly, the girl didn't move. Thinking maybe she hadn't heard him, Sam called out again, this time slightly louder.

She raised her head and turned to Sam slowly. He was prepared for anything: white eyes, black eyes, Hell if she'd thrown him psychically through the air it would have been more expected than what he saw. The expression on her tear-stained face was of despair, hopelessness, and terror. And he could tell that she was also at least in mild shock. It only took her a second for her to realize that each boy had a gun pointed at her and she found her voice.

"Stay away from me!" she cried, scuffling backwards along the ground a few feet before she managed to stand up.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy," Sam said soothingly, lowering the gun and putting a hand up in submission. "Easy. Just hang on a second, okay?" He slowly put the shotgun on the ground.

"Sam," Dean said tightly, telling him that he wasn't sure it was safe to relinquish his weapon.

Sam looked over to his brother, who he realized seemed to be fighting off some sort of pain. Dean had raised his hand to his head and was holding his forehead slightly, still holding the Colt up at the young girl, his eyes twitching as if to blink away the pain. Sam only looked at Dean for a split second before looking back to the girl, but didn't pick his gun back up.

When Dean let out another cry of pain, Sam spoke again. "Dean, put down the gun."

"Sam—."

"_Drop it_," he ordered him.

Dean dropped the gun, partly because he was starting to be in too much pain to focus on aiming it, and collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.

Suddenly, when the cry of, "Freeze, FBI!" came from the bushes, Sam's 'holy shit' level rose tenfold. His eyes darted to the two agents who emerged from the bushes, weapons up and pointed at Sam and Dean. It only took a second for Sam's eyes to lock with one of the agents.

"_Gaia?_"

"_Sam?_"

It only took a split-second more than that for Gaia's expression and the expression of her partner to contort in shock and pain. Both agents, who had been holding a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other, dropped their flashlight to raise their hand to their head, as if to grasp the pain and pull it out. Somehow they managed to keep a grip on their weapons, their training taking over, but then Sam's wide eyes went from the two agents to the young girl, who looked more terrified than ever, and then back to the agents.

"Shit. Gaia, drop your gun! Your partner too! Do it now!"

Gaia only hesitated for a moment before she dropped it, managing to grunt through the pain, "Lau, drop your weapon."

"But—."

"Now!" she cried.

Gaia's partner dropped his weapon to the ground and Sam's eyes looked back to the girl as the two FBI agents fell to their knees, clutching their heads.

"Are you here to kill me?" she asked shakily.

Sam heard a grunt of increasing pain from his brother and his eyes darted over to him again for a moment. "No. We aren't here to hurt you," Sam told her earnestly. "I promise. We came here to help you. I know one of the FBI agents over there. She's a good friend. She and her partner won't hurt you, I swear."

The girl stared at Sam, wide-eyed, eyebrows furrowing over the bridge of her nose, her face stained with tears and her breath shuddering slightly. Then she looked over to Dean and then back to Sam, staring into his eyes.

"None of us…are going to hurt you," Sam said softly, keeping his panic under wraps. He put as much sympathy and kindness and desperate pleading into the statement as he could, turning the puppy eyes on full force. Their options had either been to try to get an unstable Dean to shoot the young girl in the head when they had no clue of what's going on, probably because she was defending herself against what she thought was danger, or talk her down. Sam had chosen the latter, and there was no going back.

"Please," Sam whispered. "Just relax."

Dean suddenly let out a harsh breath of relief as the pain stopped. Dean's eyes darted up to his brother, who was still focused on the young girl, but he remained silent, letting his brother take the lead. Dean realized his face was wet, and not from tears. Wiping his cheeks and under his nose, he realized that he'd been bleeding. A few things occurred to him then, the pain having cleared from his mind.

The girl Sam was speaking with had killed the people in the cult.

The girl Sam was speaking with meant the ceremony had been completed.

And Sam hadn't been affected by what seemed like her defense mechanism.

Gaia and her partner also fell to their hands and knees and Lau hissed quietly, "Moore. You all right?"

Gaia looked to him and blinked at the fact that he'd started crying blood, realizing that the wetness she felt on her own face must have been the same thing. His eyes widened at what he saw and he raised his hand to his own face. She held up a hand subtly. "Don't move," she told him quietly before looking back to Sam. "Just trust me."

Gaia saw Lau nod slightly out of the corner of her eye and she waited to see what Sam would do.

"Why would you think we wanted to kill you?" Sam asked, focusing on the girl.

The girl hesitated and then swallowed. "One…because you all have guns," she told him quietly. "And two…because the ritual finally worked. And now I'm…I'm a murderer."

Sam calculated her age at roughly twelve, which would mean that she'd probably know a bit about what the cult had been doing. He continued to try and analyze the girl's body language and figure out what she knew about what was going on. He really didn't want to believe what the evidence was telling him; that the girl _had_ drank the blood and had been hurting Dean because he felt like a threat. "What happened here?" he asked finally.

The girl's face slipped even further into despair. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked again.

"_No_," Sam insisted.

She looked to the ground. "Why not?"

Sam blinked in surprise. "Why would you ask that?"

The girl seemed to reluctantly turn back to Sam and he saw tears starting to stream down her face again. "I killed them," she sobbed. "I killed _all of them_!"

Sam swallowed. "How?" he asked.

"I just…did," she breathed out in a tired sigh, her eyes closing tightly. She took in and let out a shaky breath, then reopened them. "They did the ritual and…made me drink the blood. And then…then when I did…I was so angry…at them…at the demon…I just…." She let out another choking sob.

Sam had a moment of stunned disbelief before the crushing realization of everything that had happened hit him. The feeling that someone had just reached into his chest, grabbed his heart, and squeezed.

"What's your name?" Sam asked suddenly.

The girl looked back to him cautiously and hesitated. "Kyra," she finally said.

"Kyra, my name's Sam. I need you to listen to me," Sam told her, trying to put as much gentle force behind the words as possible. "This is not your fault. Now I might be able to find a way to fix this. To fix you. But I need you to give me a chance, okay?"

After about five seconds of silence, Kyra spoke again. "How come I hurt them but not you?"

Sam pursed his lips, the answer seeming clear to him, just one he didn't want to acknowledge. He looked over to Dean, who gave Sam a tired shrug, as if to say, "You take lead on this one, dude."

Sam looked back to Kyra. "Probably because…when I was six months old, I was fed demon blood too."

Kyra didn't move an inch. "What?" she whispered.

"It was a long, long time ago. There isn't anything we can do about my blood. But this only happened to you half an hour ago, probably less. If we hurry, we might be able to try to reverse the process."

Kyra swallowed, and Sam saw her take a couple of small steps toward him. "You really think…you might be able to…reverse what the blood did to me?" she asked, careful, skeptical hope inching its way into her voice.

"Yes," he told her.

"But…I'm a killer," she whispered. "I killed all those people…." Kyra tore her gaze away from Sam's and drifted over to the cult's members, though Sam knew that the little scared girl inside her wanted Sam to tell her she was still a good person. Still human. And then her gaze rested on the woman in front of her. "I killed _her._"

"Who was she?" Sam asked.

Kyra stared at the woman for a few more moments before she spoke, her voice devoid of emotion. "My mother."

Sam pushed past the shock and continued. "Kyra," he said, his voice low but serious. It immediately brought her eyes back to his. "It wasn't your fault. You were scared. You were angry. You were violated. And you weren't in control. It _wasn't your fault_."

Kyra finally, slowly, made her way over to Sam and stared up at his worried eyes for a few seconds before she collapsed to the ground, hunched over, sobbing. Sam instinctively went to her side, kneeling down, and put an arm around her shoulder. At first, she stiffened against it, but then she let out a sigh, leaning into it. "It's okay, Kyra. You're okay."

Sam felt as her frame was wracked with her sobs, letting out all the fear of having killed people, until she finally tired after a minute or so and the sobs tapered off. "Come on, we need to get going," Sam said firmly, helping her up to her feet. He looked over to Dean, who also got to his feet, tucking the Colt into his jacket pocket. "Call Bobby," he called over to him. "See what he knows, how much he can dig up and how fast."

"On it," Dean replied, taking out his cell phone and dialing the number.

"Sam," Gaia called out quietly as she slowly got to her feet, holstering her weapon and motioning for her partner to do the same. "You want to clue me in here?"

Sam looked to her and then over to her Lau. "This is Special Agent Lau?" he asked.

Lau blinked in surprise and Gaia nodded. "Yea." She looked to her partner. "This is Sam. He's um…." Gaia sighed. "Ah, shit. Look, I'll explain all this later, okay?"

"Moore," Lau said carefully, "I'm really, really confused."

Gaia snorted. "I know. Look…I need you to trust me for a while to handle this the right way. When all this is over, I'll explain everything, I promise. All right?"

Lau let out a long breath and nodded. "Yea. Yea, all right."

Gaia nodded back appreciatively and turned to Sam. "You want to brief me on this later? What'll work best here?"

"You call for backup yet?" Sam asked.

"Nobody but us right now," Gaia replied. "An asset inside the cult contacted us about what was going down. Lau and I have been on this case for about a month, but we were about an hour away, so…." She let her voice trail off, the explanation being that they weren't able to get here fast enough.

Sam paused, the gears turning in his brain for a few seconds, before he responded. "Dean and I were never here. Neither was Kyra. I don't know what your M.E. will find as cause of death, but it'll probably be an aneurysm or something. Dean and I need to take off pronto. We'll take care of Kyra and I'll keep you updated."

"And the, ah, bleeding eyes thing?" she asked, motioning to her face.

Sam hesitated. "Shouldn't be anything more than burst capillaries is my best guess. But you might want to get checked out just in case."

Gaia nodded once. "Got it."

Sam leaned down and picked up his shotgun, keeping a gentle hold on Kyra, who suddenly appeared exhausted. "Come here," he said softly, gently picking her up under her knees and arms. She curled into him, the young man who had suddenly given her hope.

Sam gave a farewell nod to Gaia and left quickly with Dean, who was still on the phone with Bobby, walking along for a few moments before Kyra spoke again.

"Thank you," she breathed.

Sam looked down to Kyra, who had closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. He almost hadn't heard the two words, and he wasn't even sure if they'd been spoken consciously, since her breathing had the regular rhythm of sleep. His heart seemed to tighten again and he nodded. "You're welcome," he whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

It was ten minutes before local police showed up at the crime scene once Gaia had called it in. FBI was lead on the case of course, but it was two more hours before the VBI's crime scene team got there. Though Lau wasn't happy about it, especially given Gaia's reputation on keeping the Bureau out of things, he did promise her that he would lock away any memories of having seen Sam or Dean or Kyra. As far as he knew, they got to the crime scene, saw two dozen dead bodies, and called it in.

Of course, Gaia told him, that was one of the reasons he should believe her that it was best kept under wraps; because she'd had plenty of lessons on _not_ keeping things from the FBI. She had learned a lot and knew firsthand the repercussions. Lau had sighed deeply, annoyed at how it made some sort of twisted sense, and promised to keep his mouth shut.

After a long night of dealing with the unavoidable news crews, procedures of investigations, and paperwork, Gaia finally got a moment to breathe at about three AM. Lau took the driver's seat in his black sedan, Gaia riding shotgun, and they set off toward the motel they'd been staying in.

No more than three seconds after Lau had set her car on cruise control on the highway, he spoke up. "All right. Spill."

Gaia already had her cell phone in her hand and was dialing Sam's number on a spare disposable cell she kept for emergencies. "Give me a few more minutes. I need an update from Sam."

"I'd say something like, no wonder Will was so enamored with you, you're one big enigma, but I wouldn't want to be insensitive," Lau told her, slightly deadpan.

Enough time had passed since Will's death that he could poke at her slightly with a comment like that and not get a punch in the face, which was why he'd said it, and Gaia rolled her eyes. "Shut up." She waited as the phone rang.

"_Yea?_"

"You busy?"

There was a hesitation. "_No. How are things going at the crime scene?_" Sam asked.

"As well as you could hope for a mass murder like this," she replied. "Or mass…something. Lau and I just left. He's being very patient with me and he kept his mouth shut, but I _will_ have to explain all this to him. Something I'm not looking forward to. But the scene is so chaotic that the fact that some footprints there don't match any of the sect aren't going to register as important on the evidence list. They're going to be more worried about the Satanic shit and twenty-two dead men and women that they're probably going to have a hard time getting a reasonable cause of death for. So you and Dean are in the clear. Anyway, can you clue me in here?"

Sam let out a sigh, laced with static in the cell phone. "_I haven't slept all night. Neither have Dean or Bobby. We've been wracking our brains and exhausting our research to try to find something to do for Kyra, but…._"

Gaia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, here's a loaded question for you. How is she?" she asked after a moment, letting her hand drop to her lap.

"_She cried herself to sleep as soon as we got to the motel,_" Sam said quietly. "_Been out ever since. But nothing else happened. She didn't…. Well, no more bleeding eyes so far._"

"From what I heard from her, it sounds like a situation like yours," Gaia told him, never one to mince words. "Is that the conclusion we've come to?"

"_Yea, except the demon was summoned, forced to do the dirty work, and then sent back to Hell_," Sam replied. "_And yes, before you ask, that is some seriously heavy shit. Nobody with two brain cells to rub together messes with demons like that_."

"Are you guys sure it was sent back?" Gaia asked. She purposefully kept her statements vague, to keep Lau from hearing words like 'demon' and 'Hell'.

"_Kyra gave us a pretty detailed account of what happened. Not something that can go in an FBI report_."

"Oh, that's a surprise, Sam. Thank you, I did not know that."

Gaia could practically hear him roll his eyes over the phone. "_Yea. Anyway. From her account, it was definitely sent back. And it was her who did the mojo that killed the sect, not the demon. But dead bodies are your job. Kids with psychic powers and demon-summoning cults are mine._"

"No argument here. Is this the only sect?" Gaia asked. "There isn't another sect of the Order of Phosphorous hoping to go another round like this?"

"_There will always be another sect, Gaia_," Sam said with a sigh that was way too weary for her to come back with a sarcastic quip. "_But this isn't something that happens often_. _This was a big deal, sorcery the likes of which I haven't seen for a while. There's actually something bigger going on here, and it's not something I'm willing to get into right now._"

"You always were cryptic. Okay. And Kyra? If you can't find a solution?"

There was a heavy silence on the phone for a few moments. "_It's something Dean and I were forced to consider. I've put in a few calls to some other hunters trying to get any information I could to point us toward a solution, but honestly I didn't call that many. Hunters are, ah…. They don't see shades of gray with something like this. They'll see Kyra as a danger and it won't matter what she looks like or what she is. They _will_ kill her._"

Gaia swallowed back her anger. "Is there somewhere safe for her?"

"_You mean witness protection for psychic kids_?" Sam asked grimly. He sighed. "_I'm hoping she can stay with Bobby. If we really can't cleanse her of the demon blood or at least bind her ability, that's really all I can think of. I mean there are other dangers we're worried about involving her safety, enemies she might have now that she's…well, shit, now that she's dangerous. But Dean and I are doing our best with this and we'll keep it up_."

"What do you mean, other dangers?" Gaia asked, narrowing her eyes.

"_Not really something I want to go into, even with you_," Sam said, his voice oddly anxious.

"All right," Gaia said quietly. "I'm going to hang up because all your mysterious shit starts to annoy me after a while. Listen, keep me updated just for the Hell of it, okay? I'd like to stay informed on this."

"_I can do that_," Sam replied.

"'Kay. Stay safe, Sam."

"_Always_."

Gaia hung up the phone, letting out a long sigh. She put the phone back into her shoulder bag, letting it fall to the floor, and banged her head against the window a few times.

"Careful you don't shake anything loose," Lau said, looking at her sideways.

"Ha ha," she muttered.

Lau paused. "So. Talk to me."

Gaia let out another sigh, pushing her palms into her eyes. "Shit. Yea." She leaned back in her seat and looked over to Lau. "What do you know about demons?"


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

"Moore."

"_This is a collect call from…A crappy day._" Gaia snorted as Lau opened his eyes at her for a moment, having been woken by the ringing cell phone, before closing his eyes again. "_Will you accept the charges?_"

"Yea." There was a click on the line. "Hey, how's my favorite monster hunter?"

"_You know other monster hunters?_"

"I know Dean. And of the two of you, you're my favorite."

"_I'm flattered,_" Sam replied. "_What are you up to?_"

"The fascinating job of gaining information by not-so-patiently waiting for something to happen. Also known as a stake-out."

"_Ah. Lau there?_"

"Yea. He's sleeping," Gaia said, glancing over to her partner, slumped in the seat next to her. "We're watching in shifts."

"_You okay to talk?_" Sam asked.

"You kidding? This is the most fun I've had in the past twenty-four hours," she said with a sigh. "I can pay attention to my surveillance while talking to you. How've you been? I thought I was getting a call from a crappy day."

"_Yea. Just the usual._"

Gaia paused. "Dean still doing the speak no evil thing?"

Sam sighed. "_It frustrates me, but honestly…I believe him when he says he can't talk about it. It's just something that he went through on his own and has to deal with on his own_."

"Yea, I get that," Gaia murmured.

"_This past job though…_" Sam said, letting his voice trail off.

"You sound like you're almost laughing. That's a change."

"_It was one of those…really weird jobs. I'll tell you what started it and let you see what you could come up with_."

"Okay," Gaia said uneasily.

"_A guy makes a wishing well in a local restaurant actually work_."

Gaia blinked and paused for a second. "Holy crap."

"_Ya. He started it by making a woman fall in love with him. It didn't take long for others to figure out that the wishing well really worked_," Sam told her.

"What happened?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"_Ah…there was a ten-year-old that had super-strength. He wanted to get back at some bullies._"

"Um, gulp?"

"_Yea. There was a teenage boy who could make himself invisible and was sneaking into the locker room at a local pool_."

Gaia chuckled. "Wow."

"_A girl's parents wished themselves to Bali_."

Gaia blinked. "Bali? Isn't that some Indonesian island? Near Australia?"

"_Yea. Big tourist destination._"

"Oh."

"_And, ah…an eight-year-old girl wished that she had a teddy bear that was big, real, and could talk. And somehow, that got translated into a five-foot tall, depressed, alcoholic teddy bear_."

Gaia was silent for a long moment. "That's…disturbing."

"_No kidding. Once it was over, though…. God, we could not stop laughing. I mean, really, with something like this either you laugh or you're gonna cry, you know?_"

"Yea, I know," Gaia said with a smile, sighing. She didn't talk for a few seconds, just stared out the window at the building she was watching, and somehow felt the silence on the line become weighted. "What?"

"_It was a coin._"

"What was a coin?"

"_The guy dropped in this coin. And he picked it back up and everything went back to normal._"

"Well…could the coin do it again?"

"_Yea._"

Gaia paused. "So you got rid of it, right?"

Sam sighed. "_Yea. Had it melted down. Nobody's going to be making wishes on it anymore._"

Gaia thought for a moment. "What would you have wished for?" she asked quietly.

Sam swallowed. "_That Dean hadn't had to go to Hell._"

"Yea…. You regretting melting down the coin?"

"_No._" He paused. "_Maybe._"

"You're only human, Sam," she said softly. "You want to ease your brother's pain. You had a way to do it. And you were really strong to let that go."

Sam paused again. "_What would you have wished for?_"

Gaia bit her lip. She'd known that question was coming. For a long moment, she considered it. "That he'd just…died at birth."

"_Your uncle?_"

"I wonder how many people would still be alive," Gaia mused.

The silence stretched for a while before Sam spoke. "_Would you have melted it down?_"

Gaia pursed her lips. "I don't know, Sam. I don't know if I could be as strong as you. Let something like that go." She hesitated. "But…yea. Yea, I would have. I just…I couldn't…change things like that. We aren't meant to have that kind of power."

"_Yea. I know._"

Gaia narrowed her eyes at the alley next to the building she was watching. "Sam, I gotta go. Try to stay out of trouble." She snapped her phone shut. "Lau, wake up," she said, slapping him on the shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"_Try to stay out of trouble._"

Sam smiled. "Yea, you_—._" He blinked as he heard the abrupt click on the line. He looked at the receiver in his hand and let out a small laugh. "You too, Gaia," he said with a sigh, hanging up the pay phone.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Gaia came to a stumbling halt next to her car, Lau right on her heels. "What the Hell was that?" Lau wheezed.

Gaia stared back at the old house with narrowed eyes, shifting the unconscious child in her arms, and shaking her head. "Not sure," she muttered. Her breath came quickly, but from running, unlike Lau who was gasping for breath slightly from fear as well.

"Oh that's helpful," Lau breathed, glancing to her.

"Here, take her," Gaia said with a long exhale. Lau nodded, taking the girl in his arms and going over to the other side of the Jeep, opening the door and carefully laying the girl down in the back as he looked her over for wounds. Gaia slid out her cell phone, noting that the time was 11:23 PM as she flipped it open and dialed the fourth number on speed dial. It rang for a long moment before someone picked up.

"_Yeah?_" the voice mumbled.

"Sam, it's Gaia," she spoke. "Need a consult."

There was a brief, stunned pause. "_Gaia.__Hi.__Ah,__what's__wrong?_"

"Kidnapping, or so we thought. Birmingham, Alabama. Investigation led to an abandoned house. We found a kid, but not the one we were looking for," she told him. "And the _really__hairy_ _guy_ I shot at as he attacked us didn't really pay the bullets much mind."

There was a heavy pause. "_Ah__—__._" Sam let out a short breath as his mind spun. "_You__really__have__no__idea__how__many__possibilities__that__leaves__me__with._"

"We got out, but I'm a little bruised," she responded, twisting and cracking her back. "There might be another kid in there, there might not, but I wanted to call you before I head back in, in case you have some insight as to what weapon would help me out."

Sam sighed, irritated. "_I'm__sorry,__but__I'm__not__a__magician.__Dean__and__I__go__into__hunts__after__extensive__research__to__ensure__we__know__what__we're__getting__ourselves__—__._"

"Gaia," Lau snapped suddenly.

"_Hold__on_," Gaia spoke into the phone. She turned to Lau.

"She said she saw two more kids inside," he told her, shutting the door and walking around the car, taking his gun back out of his jacket. "Two boys." He narrowed his eyes. "Who are you talking to?"

Gaia returned her attention to the phone. "We're going back in. Can we narrow this down quickly?"

Sam made a noise that sounded like reluctance, but he obliged. "_You__said__hairy.__You__see__its__face?_"

"Yeah."

"_Fangs?_"

"What? No, no, just a really ugly dude."

"Gaia," Lau snapped, motioning toward the house with his gun. Gaia motioned to him desperately to wait a moment.

"Scraggly hair, and his face was, like, bloated," she continued. "Gruesome."

"_Wait__—__kidnapping__children_," Sam echoed.

"Yeah."

"_Take__a__Taser__with__you_," he said quickly. "_It's__my__best__guess.__Go._"

"Alright." Gaia snapped the cell shut and went into the back seat, into her duffle bag.

"What?" Lau asked impatiently.

"Forget the Glock, take this," Gaia told him, handing him a Taser and taking one for herself as well.

"Any particular reason?" he asked as he fell in line behind her, going up to the front door of the house.

"Call it inside information," she replied, putting her hand on the doorknob as he took a position to the right of the door.

00000

"You talk to her often?" Dean asked, propping himself up on his elbow, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Not particularly," Sam murmured, his eyes skimming the information on his laptop's screen.

"So you're just her friendly neighborhood Ghostbuster?"

"Guess so."

"Huh." Dean paused. "Maybe if we ran into her again sometime, she'd like to have a drink or something…."

"Dean, she'd eat you alive," Sam muttered absently.

Dean grunted in annoyance, and slightly offended. "Wouldn't be my first fed," he replied, turning over and pulling the covers back up over his shoulder. "Or my second, actually," he added as Sam threw him a glare.

Sam spent the next twenty minutes on the computer doing research, the results of which weren't particularly encouraging but not particularly discouraging either. He startled slightly at the sound of his cell phone ringing beside him and flipped it open. "Yeah?"

"_It__disappeared,_" Gaia said irritably. "_I__went__back__down__to__the__basement__once__the__kids__were__safe__and__it__was__in__the__process__of__…_melting."

Sam let out a sigh of relief. "Everyone's okay?" he confirmed.

"_Ya,__everyone's__fine.__But__I__don't__really__like__it__when__my__evidence__or__my__suspects,__especially__my__dead__suspects,_" she added, "disintegrate_._"

"Huh," Sam remarked. "See, I was more concerned with your survival than with the preservation of evidence. That's where I went wrong."

"_That's__…__not__my__point,_" Gaia sighed, exasperated.

"I get what your point is," he responded with a tight smile. "And I'm sorry your dead suspect melted."

Gaia grumbled slightly to herself for a moment. "_Thanks,_" she finally replied.

"You're welcome." Sam smiled as the phone call cut off and he put it on his bedside table, shutting his laptop, and turning off the light.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

"You know, you continue to call me only every six months, and usually only for consults, I might start to think you're using me," Sam muttered, holding the phone with his shoulder as he reassembled the Smith & Wesson in front of him.

"_I__could__call__the__other__hunter__I__know,__but__then__he'd__start__bragging__at__the__attention__and__you__might__get__jealous__…_" Gaia sighed. "_It'd__be__this__whole__big__mess._"

Sam cracked a smile. "What's up?"

"_Ah,__not__sure,__but__it__is__a__little__weird,_" she told him.

"Weird's my specialty."

"_Alright.__What__do__you__know__about__people__with__black__eyes?_"

Sam stopped what he was doing, putting down the gun and wiping his hands before taking the phone from his shoulder. "Why?" he asked tightly.

"_We're__in__Greenville,__South__Dakota__working__on__a__case__of__a__serial__killer,_" Gaia replied. "_Gruesome__stuff.__It's__always__done__in__broad__daylight__too,__and__not__in__an__isolated__area.__Usually__somewhere__oddly__close__to__public.__So__I__was__talking__to__this__woman,__Pam__Ricks,__who__had__been__at__the__scene__with__her__son,__he's__like__eight,__and__she__said__she'd__seen__him__as__he__took__off__but__didn't__see__his__face__cause__he__wore__a__mask.__When__she'd__gone__into__the__kitchen__with__Lau__to__get__us__some__coffee,__since__her__son__had__seemed__a__little__nervous__I__probed,__and__he__asked__me__if__his__mom__was__sick__because__her__eyes__turned__black._"

Sam's eyes widened. "Gaia, where are you right now?"

"_In__their__bathroom.__I__figured__it'd__be__smart__to__call__you__—_."

"Damnit, Gaia, get out of there," Sam snapped, jumping to his feet, startling Dean, who had been cleaning weapons opposite him. "Get Lau and get out, right now."

00000

Gaia's expression narrowed at his panicked response. "Ten-four," she responded knowingly, flushing the toilet. "Is there anything I should know?" she asked before she opened the door. Sam started to respond but she didn't hear him because she lowered the phone from her ear at the sight of the Pam directly in front of her. "Hey. Sorry, I had to make a call."

Without any warning, the woman in front of her swiftly grabbed Gaia by the throat, shoving her back into the bathroom. In an instinctive response Gaia counteracted the attack, confused when Pam barely flinched at the strikes, only reacting by sending a powerful punch into Gaia's stomach. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she was thrown back into the wall, hitting her head and crumpling to the ground, stars dancing in front of her eyes at the assault. Gaia tried to catch her breath and push herself to her feet, only to receive a vicious kick to the stomach.

Curling up into herself, Gaia blinked away the fuzziness and saw the woman stomp on the cell phone that had dropped to the ground, smashing it. "That wasn't a smart move," Pam growled, black eyes flashing.

The last thing Gaia saw was a glimpse of a terrified little boy behind his mother before the demon smothered Gaia's face with a cloth.

00000

Gaia woke to pain.

Letting out a cry into her gag brought her to the realization that she was gagged, and then that she was tied to a chair. Yanking furiously at the bindings, she blinked her surroundings into view, seeing that they were now in a basement, presumably that of Pam Ricks, who was standing eerily close to Gaia, examining her expression. Gaia glanced to the knife wound on her arm before she shifted her glare to the demon in front of her.

"Wakie wakie," it whispered. Gaia slid her gaze away, looking around for Lau, and by twisting her head around saw that there was another chair back to back with hers, Lau sitting in it, before her chin was wrenched forward. "He's out. Think we should wake him up? Or maybe it'd be more fun for him to wake up to your screams, hm? What do you think?"

Gaia yanked her chin out of the demon's grip angrily, her eyes skimming over the duct tape that was wrapped around her wrists, jerking at it. Her attention was quickly brought back to the demon, however, when it took her by the shoulder and the knife was jabbed into her arm in a shallow wound. Gaia let out a grunt of pain, trying to stifle it, hard-pressed not to show weakness. She snapped her eyes to that of the demon as they watered from the pain. As the demon narrowed its eyes at Gaia it slowly twisted the knife. Gaia's face twitched, straining to keep the only advantage she had, letting out choking whimpers, before the demon yanked the knife out.

It leaned in toward Gaia as she took wheezing breaths through her nose, blinking her vision clear. "Want some more? Or maybe I should move back to your partner?" it asked. "Yeah, I worked on him for a while first. Put him out for a little break for now." Gaia glowered at it intensely, having perfected the expression over many years of practice. It paused, pursing its lips. "Hm. Now that…is interesting," it muttered. "No fear." Gaia's eyebrows twitched together slightly. "Oh trust me, I know fear. And even FBI, even hunters, even the toughest human being, shows fear in this position. They might think they don't sometimes, but they do. But you…." It trailed the knife down Gaia's arm. "You are one brave little cookie, aren't you?"

Gaia managed a snort at the statement, which seemed to anger the demon because it stabbed the knife into her other arm, down to the bone this time. Gaia's vision flashed white as she choked on a scream and the demon grabbed her by the hair, immobilizing her as it started into her eyes. "Come now, a little fear…just a little…" it murmured, twisting the blade.

The scream tore out of her throat, but suddenly a hiss sounded and the knife was jerked out of her arm. The demon spun angrily, steam rising from its back as it rounded on someone. "Oh you're going to regret that," it whispered, darting forward toward its target. Gaia tried to blink the spinning world into focus, spotting the blurry figure of a man on the other side of the room, and saw as the demon slammed to a stop by an invisible field. "What…? No!" it shrieked, pounding at the cage.

"Regna terre, cantate deo salite domino," the man started.

Gaia stared in confusion and morbid fascination as the demon was thrown around in the confines of its apparent trap. She looked from it to the man, taking him in, the scruff on his lower face, the trucker cap, the worn clothes. And the Latin that flowed from his lips like it was language he conversed in daily. Gaia's eyes widened in awe as smoke finally poured from the woman's mouth, flowing up to the ceiling and dissipating.

After a long moment, Pam collapsed to the ground. The man in the cap went quickly to her side, carefully checking her pulse. The woman coughed suddenly, jerking into consciousness. "You're okay," the man told her gently. "Just breathe. Concentrate on breathing."

"Where…?" Pam whispered, looking around with wide eyes.

"You've been through a trauma, but I've got to take care of these two," he said, motioning to Gaia and Lau. "You okay?"

"My-my son," she managed. "I…." The man narrowed his eyes questioningly, staying silent. "I-I put him…in the closet…."

"Did you hurt him?" the man asked softly.

The woman's face crumpled slightly but she shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Go let him out. Tell him you were sick. And you're very sorry. I'll meet you upstairs." He helped her to her feet and she stared at him with wide eyes, unmoving. "Go on." She nodded and slowly walked to the stairs, going up to the main floor.

"Name's Bobby," the man spoke, turning to Gaia and taking off her gag, sliding a switchblade from his pocket. "Friend of Sam and Dean's. They filled me in. You're Gaia?"

"Yeah," she breathed. "How'd you find us?"

"Pam Ricks," he told her as he cut her wrists free. "She's listed. And my place isn't an hour from here. You were lucky."

Gaia nodded, swallowed to moisten her throat. "Yeah, I'd say," she muttered. "You gotta teach me that force field trick by the way."

Bobby smiled dryly as he cut the tape on her ankles. "Sure thing. You okay?" he asked, motioning to her arms.

Gaia shook her head dismissively, though she consciously noted that she still had full control of her muscles. "I'm fine," she told him. As soon as she was free, she pushed herself to her feet, her first priority immediately being Lau. She swallowed at the brutal knife wounds down his arms, her upper lip curling angrily, as she checked his pulse, which was slightly sluggish but still there.

"Here," Bobby told her, taking the cell phone from Lau's jacket and handing it to her.

Nodding once, Gaia took the phone and dialed 911 as Bobby carefully took the gag off Lau and cut the tape off his wrists. "This is Special Agent Gaia Moore. I need an ambulance at 621 East Dorris Avenue in Greenville. I have an officer down," she said tightly. "He's sustained knife wounds to his arms and is currently unconscious." She paused as the operator replied, nodding absently. "Yeah, I'll stay on the line." She covered the phone with her other hand and looked to Bobby as he swept Lau's body for other injuries. "You've probably got some experience with this kind of situation?"

"Yeah," he muttered, pushing himself to his feet. He paused for a moment. "Mom's gonna need a talking to. Give her Sam's number. For now the story is the guy she saw in the mask came after her and her son. He found you and your partner here and thought you'd be more fun to dig on, so he locked them in a closet and worked on you down here. He thought he heard something so he left to go check on them and you got free. You tried to go after him but he took off at the sight of you. Being wounded, you cut your losses and called in backup."

Gaia nodded once. "You're good."

"Practice makes perfect. I've gotta take off," he told her, folding his switchblade and putting it in his jacket as he turned to leave.

"I usually like my criminals in prison or dead," she spoke, her eyes narrowed. "What happened to this one?"

Bobby glanced back to her and shrugged. "Consider it in prison."

Gaia nodded to herself as he turned and left. "Thanks," she called after him.

Bobby gave her a brief nod and a tight smile as he ascended the stairs. Gaia knelt at Lau's side, checking his pulse again, and let out a long breath.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Gaia's eyes flicked up to Lau as he stirred, narrowing them briefly. "Hey," she said quietly. "How you feeling?"

Lau grunted in acknowledgement, sliding his gaze around the hospital room. "Not half bad, considering," he replied. He looked to her. "What…happened? And how'd we get out?"

Gaia pursed her lips. "The masked guy that Pam had spotted taking off from the scene went after her and Jason. When he found us there, he took us by surprise, threatening to shoot Jason if we didn't knock ourselves out with the chloroform he'd brought with him. He figured we'd be more fun, so he locked Pam and Jason in a closet and brought us down to the basement. After a while he thought he heard something upstairs. When he left to go check it out, I managed to get free. I tried to go after him but he took off as soon as he saw me. Since I was wounded," she said, motioning to the bandages on her arms, "and wasn't sure what condition Pam and Jason were in, I cut my losses and called in backup."

Lau stared at her curiously for a long moment, soaking everything in. "And the truth? The reason you left to use the bathroom after talking to the kid in private? And the reason…her eyes turned black?"

Gaia paused. "She was possessed," she finally muttered.

Lau let out a long breath. "For something that would cause a lot more trouble, it's a lot more straightforward," he noted.

Gaia smiled dryly. "You can try the truth if you want, but I doubt it'd go over too well."

"I still don't know how we got out," he told her.

"I had called Sam for a consult," she replied. "That's why I went to the bathroom. He was on the phone when 'Pam' came after me. I'd mentioned where we were and Pam's full name. He tracked us down and sent help."

"Remind me to send him flowers," Lau mumbled.

Gaia's gaze snapped to the door as it opened, her eyes widening as she saw who it was, pushing herself to her feet. "Sam!"

"Thank God," he breathed, walking over and taking her in a careful hug.

Gaia returned the gesture. "What are you doing here?"

Sam pulled back, blinking at her. "You're kidding, right? Dean and I hauled ass as soon as our call got cut off. We called Bobby on our way cause we knew he'd be closest."

"Oh. Um…thanks," she whispered. "For the…backup."

Sam smiled tightly. "No problem."

"Hey…do I warrant an introduction?" Lau asked meekly.

"Oh, ah, yeah. Lau, this is Sam. Sam, Special Agent Kim Lau," she said, motioning.

"Nice to meet you," Sam said tightly.

"I have to say, it's nice to finally meet you without blood dripping from my eyes. And I want to note that Gaia's description did not do you justice," Lau said, smiling widely at Sam.

Sam blinked, glancing to Gaia who smothered a chuckle, and a subtle blush rose up the back of his neck. "Ah…thanks," he managed.

"So. Possessed," Lau spoke.

Sam's face grew solemn and he nodded. "Gaia told you."

"Not much else she could've done."

"True. Though I prefer to go with lying," Sam replied. "Had plenty of practice with it and it tends to go over better."

"I'm glad I got the chance to meet you to thank you in person," Lau said quietly. "You said some guy named Bobby was the one who helped us out?"

"Yeah. He lives nearby."

"Thank him for me."

Sam smiled slightly. "Will do."

"Where's Dean?" Gaia asked.

"Um, out in the hallway. Found a cute nurse," Sam said with a sly grin.

"Ah, I see," she murmured. "One sec." Sam nodded as Gaia went out into the hallway, looking up and down the hallway and spotting Dean leaning over a counter with his arms folded, a cocky grin on his face as he chatted up a young nurse at the front desk. She walked down the hall with a smile. "Dean!" she called. He looked up to her, surprised, and she took him in a hug. "Thanks for coming, sweetheart," she said. She pulled back and gave him a brief kiss on the lips. "Come on, Sam's with Lau."

Dean stared at her with wide eyes, glancing to the nurse, who was now scowling at him. "Yeah. Sure," he muttered, falling into step beside her. After a few seconds of silence, he worked his jaw, annoyed, at her amused smile. "Did you have to do that?"

"Made me smile," she replied. Dean rolled his eyes as they arrived at Lau's room. "And it's not so polite to come to a hospital to visit someone who's just been attacked by a demon and then go flirting with the nurses," she scolded him, deadpan.

Dean let out a sigh at the remark, his expression tightening. "You okay?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

Gaia quirked the side of her mouth slightly, in interest at the sudden change in demeanor from flirty guy to worried protector, and nodded. "A little worse for the wear, but I'm fine, Dean. So is Lau." Dean looked to her left arm, his hands going out and taking it carefully, looking the bandage over with what seemed like a professional analysis. "I'm fine," she repeated.

Dean nodded, letting her go. "Good. How's your cover story?" he asked.

"Solid. Bobby helped me out."

"Alright. Lau know what really went down?"

"Yeah. He already knew the gist of what happened two years ago with you guys, so it wasn't that difficult," she told him.

"Good." Dean opened the door, going into the room, giving a tense smile to Lau. "Hey. You doing okay?"

Lau blinked at him and looked to Gaia, raising an eyebrow. "Really? Both of them are gorgeous and you didn't date either one?"

Dean's mouth opened slightly as Gaia grinned. "Lau, this is Dean. Dean, Special Agent Kim Lau," she repeated the introduction.

Lau nodded a greeting and Dean gave him a slight wave. "Nice to meet you. Ah, Sam? We shouldn't stick around," Dean noted.

Sam's expression tightened in annoyance but he nodded. "Alright. Gaia, we'll be in town for a few days, so call if you need anything," he told her, taking her in another hug.

"Thanks," she murmured. She gave him a grateful smile as he and his brother left.

"And they had to leave, why?" Lau grumbled as soon as the door shut.

"Don't much care for hospitals," Gaia replied.

"Or FBI agents?" he asked. Gaia stared at him impassively. "I saw how they reacted when you introduced me as a special agent."

"They've…kinda got a record," she explained.

Lau narrowed his eyes. "What kind of record?"


End file.
